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Single Malt Scotch!
- Thread starter tombowlus
- Start date
Oh, Bowmore. Maybe I'm an alcoholic, but in my dreams, there was always a 1km long queue of people waiting to get in.
Tomorrow: Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Lagavulin
Bruichladdich was unbelievably awesome.
Edit: I decided the octamore 6.3 will be my phd defence gift one day.
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!!!!!!
I'm so stupid. I promised my wife that our next big trip was to go see a bunch of museums in Paris, Amsterdam, London. I should have tried selling her the idea of a "sights of Scotland" tour... She could have been my designated driver.
Lagavulin won't happen, the tours are closed for maintenance and I hear there's not really anything out of their regulars to taste there. Eating lunch and then heading to Laphroaig!
And in general, two distilleries a day is optimal.
And in general, two distilleries a day is optimal.
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,939
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Hey guys, I've just recently begun my journey into the scotch world last month and have had two so far. The first was called McClellands which was ok but I recently I picked up a bottle of Glen Moray 12yr and it was much smoother but in the same price range. Can anyone recommend anything else to try for the adventurer on a budget?
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,939
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Bowmore Darkest, Balvenie Doublewood.
Laphroaig was awesome. I did the "premium tasting" but as the weather here turned to poopie, I was the only one. This turned out the be an awesome thing. My guide was someone who worked there for decades and he gave me a complimentary "quick tour", the knowledge he had of the place was unbelievable.
He was also pretty generous. On top of the regular 10y, 15y, 21y, cairdeas 2011 he had me sample an exclusive unbottled cask from 1999, the cairdeas 2014 (finished in port casks) and an extra 10y and 15y for... reasons? Great experience.
Bonus pic:
I didn't really comment the other two distilleries I visited; Bruichladdich and Ardbeg. Bruichladdich was my favorite visit of the bunch. Being able to extensively taste their port charlotte and octomore line really made me reconsider my opinion of this distillery. They were extremely generous, all tastings but the three from-the-cask-never-bottled exclusives were free (yes, even the octomore 6.3 and all the other fancy ones). The three casks exclusives were also quite delicious. The first was a 26 years old bruichladdich unpeated (first time drinking something older than me) aged in an american bourbon oak barrel, the second was à 15 years old port charlotte aged in sherry and the third was a 12 years old octomore aged in a sherry barrel that used to be a bourbon barrel. All were very special and delicious drams. They had the prettiest and more old-school facilities, their stills room was beautiful and I may have a picture or two if anyone's interested. I also have to commend them for being the most progressive distillers, they try so many things. They always have two distillery exclusive casks that you have to bottle yourself if you buy one of them, these are all single casks runs and are usually emptied within a month or so totalling to about 24 uniques drams a years on top of everything else.
The Ardbeg tour was nice but for different reasons. Ardbeg is the second smallest scotch producer on Islay right after Kilchoman and they don't have an extensive line but their tastings covered pretty much everything. We had the 10y, uigeadail, corryvreckan, perpetuum distillery release and the super nova. The lady in charge of the visit was from Ardbeg and was extremely knowledgeable, she answered so many questions I nearly feel bad for her. Being an Ardbeg Fan I may be biased.
Islay is beautiful, I walked between Port Charlotte and Bruichladdich and between Port-Ellen and Laphroaig and I would recommend to anybody to walk as much as possible or maybe bike. I was quite limited on time otherwise I would of probably walked or biked the whole Island. Another side note, the Bowmore tours were closed for maintenante but I did stay in the town of Bowmore hence the picture. Lagavulin tours were also cancelled due to maintenance, hence my choice of "only" three distilleries that are not Lagavulin. It is also to be noted that if you go in the off-season each distillery only has two tours / structured tastings per day, one around 10am and one around 2pm which also limits your options.
I didn't go into any details and only posted a few pictures, so if anybody wants more (or is planning a trip) do ask me and I'll deliver more. Sorry for the poor quality of this write-up, I threw this together in a few minutes and I had that Laphroaig tasting not so long ago
The ferry has been canceled tonight and maybe tomorrow morning. I guess if my plane can't leave tomorrow I might just have to do another one or two distilleries.
Edit: for the record I brought back a Bruichladdich cask-experiment (port charlotte, 10 y, cask strength, aged in a spanish grenache blanc cask) and a Perpetuum distillery release from Ardbeg.
He was also pretty generous. On top of the regular 10y, 15y, 21y, cairdeas 2011 he had me sample an exclusive unbottled cask from 1999, the cairdeas 2014 (finished in port casks) and an extra 10y and 15y for... reasons? Great experience.
Bonus pic:
I didn't really comment the other two distilleries I visited; Bruichladdich and Ardbeg. Bruichladdich was my favorite visit of the bunch. Being able to extensively taste their port charlotte and octomore line really made me reconsider my opinion of this distillery. They were extremely generous, all tastings but the three from-the-cask-never-bottled exclusives were free (yes, even the octomore 6.3 and all the other fancy ones). The three casks exclusives were also quite delicious. The first was a 26 years old bruichladdich unpeated (first time drinking something older than me) aged in an american bourbon oak barrel, the second was à 15 years old port charlotte aged in sherry and the third was a 12 years old octomore aged in a sherry barrel that used to be a bourbon barrel. All were very special and delicious drams. They had the prettiest and more old-school facilities, their stills room was beautiful and I may have a picture or two if anyone's interested. I also have to commend them for being the most progressive distillers, they try so many things. They always have two distillery exclusive casks that you have to bottle yourself if you buy one of them, these are all single casks runs and are usually emptied within a month or so totalling to about 24 uniques drams a years on top of everything else.
The Ardbeg tour was nice but for different reasons. Ardbeg is the second smallest scotch producer on Islay right after Kilchoman and they don't have an extensive line but their tastings covered pretty much everything. We had the 10y, uigeadail, corryvreckan, perpetuum distillery release and the super nova. The lady in charge of the visit was from Ardbeg and was extremely knowledgeable, she answered so many questions I nearly feel bad for her. Being an Ardbeg Fan I may be biased.
Islay is beautiful, I walked between Port Charlotte and Bruichladdich and between Port-Ellen and Laphroaig and I would recommend to anybody to walk as much as possible or maybe bike. I was quite limited on time otherwise I would of probably walked or biked the whole Island. Another side note, the Bowmore tours were closed for maintenante but I did stay in the town of Bowmore hence the picture. Lagavulin tours were also cancelled due to maintenance, hence my choice of "only" three distilleries that are not Lagavulin. It is also to be noted that if you go in the off-season each distillery only has two tours / structured tastings per day, one around 10am and one around 2pm which also limits your options.
I didn't go into any details and only posted a few pictures, so if anybody wants more (or is planning a trip) do ask me and I'll deliver more. Sorry for the poor quality of this write-up, I threw this together in a few minutes and I had that Laphroaig tasting not so long ago
The ferry has been canceled tonight and maybe tomorrow morning. I guess if my plane can't leave tomorrow I might just have to do another one or two distilleries.
Edit: for the record I brought back a Bruichladdich cask-experiment (port charlotte, 10 y, cask strength, aged in a spanish grenache blanc cask) and a Perpetuum distillery release from Ardbeg.
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