Archive for the 'Distillery Tours' Category

I’m off to Speyside

Saturday, April 19th, 2008

I’ll be in Scotland touring distilleries through Friday, April 25th. It is very likely that I will not have the time (or means) to post anything up until I get back. But, by then, I should have plenty to tell you. Have a great week!

Speyside bound

Monday, April 14th, 2008

This Saturday, Amy and I are heading to Speyside to tour distilleries for four days. I’m calling it the “Beyond Glenlivet and Glenfiddich” tour.
We’re going to average about two a day. Stops will include BenRiach, Benromach, Glenrothes, Macallan, Cragganmore, Ardmore and Glenfarclas.
So many Speyside distilleries, so little time! Obviously, a return visit will be necessary at […]

Jameson Whiskey and “The Four Masters”

Thursday, October 18th, 2007

I’m back on the plane, returning from Ireland on my day and a half excursion to the Midleton Distillery for the launch of Jameson Rarest Vintage Reserve. The six hours flight gives me plenty of time to think about the trip–and the brand.
On the surface, it’s easy to just say that Jameson has been coasting […]

Midleton Distillery: The enormity and complexity of it all

Wednesday, October 17th, 2007

This was my fourth tour of Ireland’s Midleton Distillery in the past fifteen years, and each time I tour it, I am in awe. Barry Crockett, Distillery Manager, showed me around.
Imagine standing next to four of the largest pot stills anywhere in the world. Then imagine, in the same room, a series of column stills. […]

Tour of Kilchoman Distillery

Friday, August 10th, 2007

I recently toured all of Islay’s distilleries and will be writing a feature story on Islay in the upcoming issue of Malt Advocate. Here is an exerpt of this upcoming feature, my visit to Kilchoman.
Kilchoman
It was my wife Amy’s first visit to Islay, so we both agreed it would be more fun to drive from […]

Glenfarclas to introduce “The Family Casks” whiskies

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

I was in Speyside about a week ago helping Glenfiddich’s whiskymaker, David Stewart, select the vintage for 2008. But, I managed to visit George and John Grant of Glenfarclas while I was there. It was there when George Grant introduced me to the new “Family Casks” line of whiskies.
The Family Casks is a “good news, […]

Campbeltown reborn:Glengyle releases its first whisky

Thursday, June 28th, 2007

My last visit to Campbeltown was sixteen years ago—a little embarrassing for someone professing to be a whisky-writer. But in all fairness, Campbeltown is a destination. You don’t pass through Campbeltown on your way to somewhere else. It’s at the end of a peninsula. And the last time I was there, only one distillery was […]

Whiskey flows from Kilbeggan distillery

Tuesday, June 5th, 2007

A new chapter in Irish whiskey distilling began this past March 19th, when Ireland’s fourth and newest Irish whiskey distillery–Kilbeggan–started making whiskey. We use the phrase “new” loosely, given that this distilling site is actually the oldest continuously licensed distilling site in the world, dating back 250 years.
According to David Quinn, the distillery manager who […]