Distillery Visit - Glenmorangie

Glenmorangie has a special place in our hearts at Whisky For Everyone. Looking back you could argue that it is the place where it all started for us, the place that sparked our interest in whisky. It was over a decade ago and on a holiday to the north Highlands that we decided to ‘visit something synonymous with Scotland’. That something was the Glenmorangie distillery.

We did the basic tour and remember being fascinated by the place – its location, the whisky making process (although we cannot pretend to have understood it), the architecture and the whisky itself, which we sampled in a small tasting at the end. We left with a bottle of the now retired Cellar 13, which we considered expensive at £40 (oh, those were the days ...) and cracked it open on the sleeper train home to London.

Distillery visit - Aberfeldy

Aberfeldy is one of the most visited whisky distilleries in Scotland, despite the Aberfeldy range of single malt not featuring in the world's Top 20 best sellers.  Its Highland location and relative proximity to Edinburgh and Glasgow help a lot but the main reason for its popularity is the distillery's importance to Dewar's, one of the most popular blended Scotch brands.  Aberfeldy is one of the signature single malts in the Dewar's range and this is reflected in the Dewar's World of Whisky visitor centre being at the distillery.

Distillery visit - Mannochmore

At the beginning of May, we paid a visit to the annual Spirit of Speyside Festival. One of the highlights of our trip was a special tour, which is only run once a year during the festival, called The Laich of Moray. This tour takes in four of Diageo's single malt distilleries around the Elgin area of Speyside that are not normally open to the public - Glen Elgin, Glenlossie, Linkwood and Mannochmore.  Our guide for the trip was Eric Walker, the Senior Site Manager in charge of the four distilleries. The final stop on the tour was Mannochmore ....

Distillery visit - Glenlossie

At the beginning of May, we paid a visit to the annual Spirit of Speyside Festival. One of the biggest highlights of our trip was a special tour, which is only run once a year during the festival, called The Laich of Moray. This tour takes in four of Diageo's single malt distilleries around the Elgin area of Speyside that are not normally open to the public - Glen Elgin, Glenlossie, Linkwood and Mannochmore.

Our guide for the trip was Eric Walker, the Senior Site Manager in charge of the four distilleries.  The third stop on the tour was Glenlossie, where we were shown around by Sandy McIntyre, the Site Operations Manager.

Distillery visit - Ardbeg / Have just tried - Ardbog

Back in September, we went on our first trip to the famous whisky producing island of Islay.  Although we were on an organised trip for journalists, we did however manage to sneak a visit to a distillery that has long been one of our favourites - Ardbeg.  Ardbeg produces some of the smokiest, peatiest single malts in the world and was one of the first of this style of whisky that we tried when we were planting our first tentative steps in to the whisky world.  We have had an affinity with it ever since because of that.

Distillery visit - Lagavulin

Welcome to Lagavulin

Lagavulin has long been one of our favourite single malts.  It is one of a handful of whiskies that got us interested in whisky around six years ago.  The 16 years old expression is widely regarded as a classic of the smoky, peaty style and is revered the world over. Therefore we were delighted and excited when we recently received an invitation to visit the distillery and the island of Islay for the first ever time.  It was an invitation that we were not going to turn down ...