Tag: Scotland

10 things every whisky lover should know before visiting Scotland

[Updated April, 2024]  Visiting Scotland soon? Are you planning a trip to Scotland to visit your favourite whisky distilleries?  Yes, for every whisky lover, it’s the ultimate pilgrimage:  After listening jealously to other people’s travels and dreaming of making it to the promised land, you’ve FINALLY saved up for and planned your first whisky trip to Scotland.  Exciting times!

Of course, every first-timer always asks the same questions in the early stages of planning:  Where’s the best place to stay?  Which distilleries should I visit?  Should I hire a car?  Do I have time to get to Islay?  How many days should I spend in Speyside?  Is the trip up to Orkney worth it? 

Naturally, the answers to these are highly subjective and individual.  They’ll depend on your budget, the amount of time you can spare, which distilleries are your favourites, and what transport options are at your disposal.  But there are a few things to appreciate about visiting distilleries that you won’t read in the guide books or find online.  Here are ten things you ought to know before heading off to Scotland…

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Highland Park – the Vikings are coming.

Anyone who’s been drinking whisky for a few years now will no doubt have noticed “change”.  Brands have changed their packaging and labels.   Distilleries have changed their core-range or introduced new expressions into their line-up.   Prices have changed.  Distillery Managers and Brand Ambassadors have changed.   According to some, whisky itself has changed!  Another key area that has changed (and will continually evolve and change) is whisky’s marketing.  In particular, each whisky brand’s image can change. And few brands can match the change in persona that has overcome Highland Park.

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Lagavulin 8yo Launch

As is widely known across the whiskysphere, 2016 sees the Lagavulin distillery celebrate its 200th Anniversary. No one celebrates a 200th birthday lightly, and Lagavulin has been widely praised for the release of its limited edition (but widely accessible and affordable) celebratory 8yo in honour of the occasion.  Whisky & Wisdom had an early taste of this, and wrote up a piece about the distillery and the whisky back in April.   You can read that piece and the review on the 8yo here.

However, more recently – and closer to home – the 8yo had its local launch in Australia just a few weeks ago. Held at The Wild Rover in Sydney’s Surry Hills, the launch was not just the unveiling and tasting of the whisky, but it was also an incredible virtual reality (VR) tour of the distillery.

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An audience with Balvenie and David Stewart

Want to know about David Stewart and his role with Balvenie / William Grant and Sons?  Read on….

If you’re an employer or in charge of Human Resources, you’ll be aware of the dynamic and shifting nature of your workforce in recent years.  Being Generation X myself, it was drummed into me that you should show loyalty to your employer and stick around.  We were constantly told by the Baby Boomer generation above us that “your CV will look more impressive and you’ll be rewarded if you’ve demonstrated that you stay at the one place for five to ten years.”

This is in stark contrast to the Gen Y and Millenial approach, where the thinking seems to be that a CV littered with multiple positions and experience gained across a many different roles and jobs is the more attractive pursuit.

So with that as context, what do we make of an employee who sticks with his boss for 54 years?  What do we make of a role and a career that has outlasted many people’s lives, let alone most people’s professional undertakings?  Such is the story and the appeal of Mr David Stewart of Balvenie.

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The Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve

Before discussing what The Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve is all about, it’s important to understand some background:

In the good old days of looking at a whisky brand’s portfolio, it used to be an easy affair to identify and speak about the brand’s “flagship” expression. This was the main expression; its biggest seller; the one that was a constant in all markets and carried the brand. Each of the other expressions in the portfolio were usually older, rarer, and less-often seen.   If you can think back 15 years ago, it was an era where most brands had their ubiquitous 10yo or 12yo flagship expression, and then some brands had an 18yo or a 25yo to offer the connoisseurs some choice.

As the single malt market started to truly boom (and bloom) during 2000-2007, many brands’ portfolios started to widely diversify. Finishes or Extra Matured expressions became more prevalent; a wider and more populated range of age statements appeared; and in the last few years, many brands added one or more NAS expressions to the range. More recently, for some brands, the flagship expression you see may depend on what market you’re in.

Most of this activity is due to marketing and sales opportunities; and some of it is simply cask and stock management: Either dealing with what stocks are currently available, or taking steps to ensure that supply will meet demand in future years.

If you read enough whisky literature, opinions and noise, you’ll be aware that some brands are already having to make hard decisions to ensure supply keeps up with demand. Cutting various product lines or removing an expression from a particular market. Many whisky folks assume this is a new phenomenon, but no, it’s been happening for a while. For example, it was back in 2004/05 that Macallan discontinued its 15yo in order to keep stock back for its more lucrative (and popular) 18yo. More recently, we’re seeing an increasing number of NAS expressions being put forward and marketed, in an attempt to take pressure off the 10yo or 12yo aged statements.   Enter Glenlivet.

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Glenfarclas Distillery – a family affair

What follows is a full and detailed profile of the Glenfarclas distillery.  I’ve prepared and written up similar distillery profiles and feature pieces for many different publications and outlets in the past, and this feature piece will be no different.  But, in the interests of full disclosure, let’s declare all interests:  Glenfarclas is my favourite distillery.  There.  I’ve said it…

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Whisky’s key ingredient

How do you make good whisky? In fact, what are the ingredients of whisky?  If you answered barley, water, and yeast, then you were correct.  And yet, there’s so much more…

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Heading off to a whisky show? Read this first! (Aussie version)

Wondering what to do at a whisky tasting event or how to plan for it?  Read on…

{But first: There are two versions of this article – one specifically for Australian readers, and one for international readers.  This is the Australian version – if you’d like to read the international version, click here}

Heading off to a whisky show soon?  Good for you! For too many years, Australians were starved of the opportunity to attend whisky expo events.  We’d all hear and read about the amazing Whisky Live events overseas, or even the epic DramFest in New Zealand, but it’s only relatively recently in Australia that these events are becoming regular attractions in most of the capital cities.

(For those who like a bit of history, the first true expo event in Australia was in Canberra in 2003 as part of the Australian Malt Whisky Convention, organised by the MWSoA.  That was a biennial event that was then repeated in Sydney in 2005 and Melbourne in 2007.  After a hiatus, it returned in Adelaide in 2013.   Whisky Live arrived on the scene in Sydney in 2009, where it was joined a year or two later by The Whisky Fair, followed by The Whisky Show in 2012.  Other local organisations have joined the party, such as the QMWS hosting their expo in Brisbane since 2011.  More recently, The Whisky Show spread its wings to Melbourne, and of course, Whisky Live has now been a nationwide roadshow in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane for the last few years.  And, whilst their scale is much, much smaller and limited to their own label, let’s not forget the “Steps to Heaven” or “Extravaganza” tastings put on by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society around the country since 2009).  More recently, independent events such as Whisky Freedom (Perth) and Whisky & Dreams (Melbourne) have added to the scene.)

The point is, most Aussie whisky enthusiasts can now attend an expo-style event in their capital city.  I recently reflected on how many different articles I’d written over the years (mostly for SMWS publications) that shared a theme or objective that could loosely be summarised as “How to get the most out of your dram”.  But something that hadn’t been addressed in any detail is how best to plan your attack when attending an expo tasting event.  Playing it right, or otherwise, can mean the difference between having an outstanding sensory and culinary experience, or having a dull, confusing session.

As someone who regularly attends these events as both a regular punter and as an exhibitor behind the table, I’m only too aware that attendees need to plan their session or employ wise strategy if they are to get the best out of what is on offer.  Play it wrong, and you truly rob yourself of a rewarding, positive opportunity.

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Glenfiddich vs Glenlivet – who will win the heavyweight title bout?

It’s a classic question that many whisky drinkers ponder:  Which is better…Glenfiddich or Glenlivet?  It’s also a great question, because if someone were to ask you, “What does a Speyside whisky taste like?”, then pouring a dram of either Glenlivet or Glenlivet would answer their question pretty nicely.

Both exhibit that classic Speyside style of being grassy, floral, sweet and malty, with that little extra “zing” for good measure. With Glenfiddich, the zing comes in the form of pear drops, whilst Glenlivet, for me, has a wee hint of citrus tang.  Both drams are textbook examples of Speyside whisky.

Depending on your age, and certainly if you were introduced to malt whisky prior to the 2000’s, then there’s a very good chance that one of these two whiskies was probably your first ever single malt.

The two brands are giants of the industry and mutually respected (and respectful) competitors on the playing field. Glenlivet is the single malt flagship of Pernod Ricard (via its subsidiary, Chivas Bros), whilst Glenfiddich remains one of the last bastions of independent, family ownership, being the bedrock of William Grant & Sons.   Both brands command significant market share. The Glenlivet has been the biggest selling single malt in the USA for years, whereas Glenfiddich can boast the global title of being the biggest selling single malt in the world.

As these two heavyweights front up to do battle, let’s compare their credentials and get ready to rumble… Continue reading “Glenfiddich vs Glenlivet – who will win the heavyweight title bout?”

Auchentoshan – Triple the fun

Auchentoshan.  In a whisky landscape where single malts and new expressions are becoming more and more ubiquitous, every brand or distillery is jockeying for position and heralding its “point of difference”.  Some hang their hat on geography (“We’re Scotland’s most northerly distillery”); some rely on taste (“The most richly flavoured Islay malt”); some rely on size (“Scotland’s smallest distillery”); and others lean on their corporate make-up (“Still family owned since 1860”).

Only one Scottish distillery, however, can declare that its production methods and spirit are different to every other Scotch single malt.  And that distillery is Auchentoshan.  For it is here and only here that the mystical and complex art of triple distillation is practiced on each and every drop of spirit produced.

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