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One of my favourite jobs is as the driver for the esteemed whisky writer Ingvar Ronde. He normally visits Scotland twice a year to do research for his next edition of The Malt Whisky Yearbook. Last week we visited many distilleries in Speyside and Highlands and the highlight for me was the opportunity to visit some very new ones plus some favourites which are closed to the public….
The new ones included Balmaud, a farm distillery on a surprisingly big scale, Cabrach, owned by a charitable trust and Toulvaddie, one of the first for centuries to be started by a woman. They all had their charm for different reasons.
At the other end of the production scale I was especially grateful to visit the likes of Glen Ord (Singleton) , Balblair ,Craigellachie, Tomatin and Dailuaine.
But the standout visits have to be the recently reopened Brora which has been lovingly restored closely as possible to the original distillery. It has been finished to perfection and you could still feel the history and character. Tours there are very high end but I can see why!
And then there is Dalmore Distillery! One of my favourite drams but the scale of the distillery expansion is breath taking. I was very fortunate to visit the still hard hat sit, with not only the distillery manager but also the architect. Very few have had the opportunity to see the work in progress. There were 86 construction personnel on site that day. I hope to visit again next year when the work is completed.
