Woke up to another day of rain and cloud. We thought it would be a great day for a Scotch Distillery Tour. Over breakfast, our B&B host, Peter, mentioned his favorite Scotch is Glenfarclas. Glenfarclas is a 5th generation family owned/operated Highland Scotch Distillary.
Whisky Trail Drive…Aviemore to Boat-of-Garden to Nethy Bridge to Glenfarclas (Near Aberlour)
Signage
Clare At Nethy Bridge
Dennis Standing Over the Spey River
We took the long way up, through Boat-of-Garten and Nethy Bridge. Overall, the drive was very pleasant, passing by many distilleries and pretty little croft homes. We would highly recommend listening to Car Talk for the drive! Oddly, The Tappit Bros. fit right in with the Highland Scenery!
Dennis Found Us a Fixer Upper…Think we can flip this?
The distillery tour was very interesting and informative. The group was mainly comprised of older retired gents, but there was one other youngish female in the group. Dennis was probably the 2nd youngest dude, if that is any indication of the demographics!
I did ask later what the Glenfarclas family knows about their customers and they said they don’t really collect statistics on the demographics. Which sounds odd to a person born/raised in a capitalist society. How could they not want to make more money? But, the guide said it was all about the quality of the goods and the established relationship with the customer.
The Connoisseur’s Tour ends with a tasting of 5 quality scotches. I really enjoyed this part of the tour, for obvious reasons!
The older gents completely downed the scotch. It was amazing. They wasted no time pontificating the flavor, color, odor, consistency prior to the embibement. It was a systematic swallowing first…followed by 10 minutes of conversation second. They left the room before I was even halfway done. I wondered if their tastebuds were gone, or rather, if they had several more tours to do prior to the end of the day! Ha-ha-ha.
After the tasting, we drove to Grantown-On-Spey for a snack. It’s a cute little town with many shops. By the time we got there almost everything was closed down, so we just strolled down the main drag.
Back in Aviemore, Dennis & I went for an hour long run, 7-8 miles, down the Speyside Way. It is a beautiful run, easily accessable from Aviemore. We watched as the afternoon turned into early evening, enjoying the cool temps.
We had dinner at the Cairngorm Hotel. Bagpipes played as the sun was setting, which is tradition at the hotel. It was a nice touch.
Dennis had peppered haddock, served on a salad, for an appetizer while I had a bowl of smoked haddock and leek soup. Both were yummy. Then, Dennis had vennison in a bread bowl – which was a bit salty. I had fish cakes which were delicious.
In our opinion, the Old Bridge Inn was better.
Tags: Distillery Tour, Glenfarclas, Highland, Scotch, Scotland