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Wednesday 18 October 2006--A dreich and dreary day; good whisky weather. The Speyside Cooperage is our first stop today. It
is one of several commercial cooperages in Scotland. Since Scotch whisky is customarily matured in second-hand barrels,
mostly bourbon barrels from the United States, most of the work here is rebuilding and repairing. As we watch from the
gallery, Ron remarks on the hustle of the workers, who are paid piecework.
We take a stroll around Dufftown and shop the information center for souvenirs and baubles, and then return to the B&B and take a nap. We're both feeling a bit beat. We get up in time to catch the bus to Aberlour. We are booked on the 2:00 tour at the distillery there, and they are reputedly rather generous with the samples, so taking the bus seems prudent. In the visitors' center, we meet Ian Logan, international brand ambassador for Chivas Brothers, owners of Aberlour, the Glenlivet, and nine other Speyside distilleries. He is on holiday, and apparently has nothing better to do than hang around distilleries. Ian is a bear of a man; by the look of him, I'd say God put him on earth to play rugby. We get a good thorough tour (no inside photography, unfortunately), and have a friendly blether with Ian over the promised samples. There are two casks from which to fill your own bottle in the shop, a sherry butt and a bourbon barrel, and Ron and I each fill one from the latter. The samples we had from each were stunning, but the sherried malt seems not far different from Aberlour's widely-available a'bunadh. We mention that we have to catch the bus back to Craigellachie, and Ian offers to give us a ride. We accept, and he takes us by way of Glenallachie, giving us a private look around. He asks us what we are planning for tomorrow, and we tell him we are thinking of taking the tour at Glenlivet, having been impressed by several bottlings we've sampled from that distillery. "I'll pick you up at 9:30," he tells us. We are back at the B&B in time for a short rest before dinner at the Highlander. After eating, we saunter down the street to the Craigellachie Hotel and pop into the famous Quaich Bar for a dram--Glenlivet Nądurra for me. Then it's back to the Highlander, where we stick to pints of Trade Winds. Next |
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The Speyside Cooperage
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Aberlour
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Ian and Ron
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Glenallachie Stills
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