It's after midnight, across the street the river burbles by. It rains in
Scotland. A lot. In Scotland they put ground oats and lard in a sheep's stomach and call it food. The people are cheapskates and when they can't nick you they at least leave you to pick up the tab. Still, you came – for
the whisky, and glad you are for every hour you are disabused of another preconception until here you sit, outside the Inverness Hotel on the banks of the River Ness, with comrades from three continents drinking rare drams, afraid only, to
pinch yourself. Three days earlier, you boarded an Air Canada jet bound for Glasgow. About the same time, friends in France, Holland and India were making similar embarkations. Krishna is
the first to join you in your suite at the University of Glasgow and soon you head out for a tour and a dram. Glasgow is old, and a little bit shabby with streets running in all directions, but the maniacal malt radar can never be fooled
and soon you find the Pot Still on Hope Street where you and your cyber buddy share your first malt in real time. This also is your first malt in Scotland. The walls behind the bar are floor to ceiling malts so the barkeep brings a
list. After some discussion you settle on a Linkwood. It's a Linkwood 1968/1996 (40%, G&M). You'll give it 79 points, Krishna 80 so at 4.10 GBP it's a bargain. Remarkable a week later when you realise
that's the most you'll pay for a single dram your whole time in Scotland. The Linkwood comes, you are shocked to discover, in a straight-sided glass. The nose is non-descript so you ask for tasting glasses. Two fragile
Glenmorangie-style tasters arrive, and you realise this is not a common request in this Glasgow whisky bar. In the tasting glass, the nose is rich and creamy with honey, malt, clover blossoms, very mild tobacco and a hint of oak
wood. There is no spice and no nose tickle. On your palate it's sweet and oily with spice following in the middle. After more than a quarter century in cask, there's wood as well. The second sip is spicier, but still no
burn. And now, a hint of esters. Some bitterness early in the middle dissolves into a creamy sweetness that seems to increase with each sip, especially on your lower lip. A slight, not harsh metallicness creeps in. The
Linkwood has a pleasant warmth. A medium finish dissolves into lingering sweetness, like sweet, diluted sugar-water. Some mild cigarette tobacco remains but the spiciness fades after a few minutes. It's Krishna's treat, and
you thank him, then back out into the streets to track down more whisky shops. You've agreed to meet Serge and Johannes at the Central Station, so head over, stopping along the way at Oddbins, still on Hope Street. Jason, behind the
counter, pours a Royal Lochnagar 12yo
(40%, OB) and you're on to your second Glaswegian dram. "We used to have more malts to taste," Jason says, but a new manager is not so generous. Still, a free dram is a free dram, and a free dram in Scotland is a miracle, or so you still think. Later you'll realise Jason's generosity is the norm, for almost every Scot you meet, if he has whisky, offers some. You get to chatting, and Krishna pulls out a huge t-shirt he has made for the team. Jason admires the Malt Madness logo and Krishna gives him the shirt. He has dozens more back at the room. The Lochnagar's nose is honeyed and floral, but in an open glass it's hard to detect much more. Later, visiting the grounds of Lochnagar you'll kneel by a leaking pipe and smelling the ground, pity Jason for what those glasses concealed. On the palate, the Lochnagar's sweet and watery, then spicy, then peppery then a trace of peppermint followed by tannic wood. Later sips are quite spicy, but fade quickly. It gets a bit warm in the finish, which is short to medium in length. Noting the glass was less than desired you agree on a score of
73 points. Edinburgh Castle high above the city gazes down on us - four pilgrims - and
we need a picture. But that's not so easy. Johannes approaches three early-twenties ladies waiting to cross the street. "Can you take a picture of
us" he asks proffering his camera. But he does not exist in their Edinburgh, and he soon gives up. More luck with a passing couple and we're
immortalized in pixels. A couple of beers, dinner and a good long walk and we're back to the hotel where Krishna offers a bottle of MacDowell NAS Single Malt
(42.8%, OB, Oak Matured Single Malt Whisky, Bottle #60 from August 2002). Krishna is half-apologetic,
"It's crap" he confides. Not so, we disagree, on tasting. Certainly it'll not win gold at the Malt Maniacs Awards, but it's drinkable
malt, if only in the mid-60's range. The nose is slightly spirity with a faint background of malt, and not much more. It's sweet on the
palate and watery. Hot and spicy, it tastes of malt, with a hint of metal. A short, sweet, malty finish ends in a hint of wood. Perhaps it's the company, perhaps the whisky, but you score it at 64 points.
Serge is next to offer a treat, and his really is spectacular, for it's a whisky hitherto unknown by the group.
It's not wide, but the current would deter any but the strong swimmer.
Dinner is over long since, yet flavours linger. Krishna tutored your server to prepare a meal to suit your palate and you appreciate it. Any more fire and your taste buds would retreat in panicked flight. But Krishna knows
his spices. Now, sitting outside your hotel, the four of you survey the scene. It's dark, but little jewels of light reflect off an old Rolls Royce, built for some now-forgotten maharaja. This is what money can do. The
car's adorned with brass elephant insignia so perfectly incorporated, you'd think every Rolls must have them. Further down sits a massive 1930's Cadillac. Sheer luxury in its day, it's been relegated to display with an assortment
of other one-offs, for guests to admire. You raise a dram in sunburned hand. Garneath 1969; so rare many connoisseurs don't know it. You toast, you smile - luxuriate.
Surely this can't be Scotland.
Scotland, you see, is heaven.
A bite and a beer with Serge and Johannes, and it's off to Edinburgh.
Johannes has called ahead to Royal Mile Whiskies to tell them we are coming, and we arrive at their door with less than a half-hour 'til closing. The reputation of the shop must be built on the personality of proprietor, Keir
Sword, because in his absence it's but a tourist trap where the staff want to quickly see your money or your back. Although the stock is pretty much mainstream we'd anticipated looking around, but get the bum's rush instead,
and we're disappointed. We find our hotel, check in, and we're off to visit the city.
The Garneath 1969/1990
(47%, Humbrecht) is a single grain whisky from a now-forgotten distillery, it was distilled in 1969, then
brought to Alsace, in cask, in 1985, where fellow malt maniac Olivier bottled it in 1990. It's spectacular, the more so, in that it is so
rare and at the same time so flavourful. The nose, almost bourbon-like, is very strong in vanillins. There's alcohol there, it seems
quite spirity, but it's the spirit you smell in a good quality blend. And now you know where that underlying flavour in blended whisky
comes from. It's grain whisky, not the neutral spirits you imagined, but a real contributor to the flavour, and you like it. There is
grass and clover and it burns your nose, like menthol. In creeps allspice, pipe tobacco and nutmeg. On the palate, the Garneath is
quite astringent, both sweet and dry. Notes of dry grain emerge from the spicy heat, and then it becomes sweet. The sherry cask shines through and the whisky gets sweeter as it fades into the finish.
A truly outstanding whisky, Garneath single grain scores 82 points, better than many single malts.
- - -
Next morning we wander back to the Royal Mile, stopping, not at RM Whiskies, but venturing just off the main strip to 172 Canongate
where Cadenhead's has an outlet. Mark Davidson greets us, his first visitors of the day, and soon we spy a cask in the corner. The
infamous, fill-your-own bottle of Bond No. 3 from Campbeltown. I tried it, I think at Tom Borschel's place and thought it was a
Springbank, and a good one. "Not necessarily so," says Mark. There's lots of Springbank it there, but it's renewed each time the level
gets down to the spigot, with whatever is ready in Springbank's Number 3 Bond warehouse. There are lots of different whiskies
maturing in there, and last time Mark tells us, it was re-filled with Glen Scotia. No. 3 Bond, a vatted malt, who'd have thought!
Cadenhead's has been around since 1842, beginning as importers, bottlers and wholesalers of Scotch malt whisky and rum. They're
now the owners of Springbank Distillery, hence the assumption that No. 3 would be a Springbank. But they retail all sorts of malts
from all over Scotland. It's an interesting shop, with whiskies listed by distillery and age on a large chalkboard. The customer makes
his choice and the bottle is retrieved from a stock room. And it's all drinking whisky. "No trophy whiskies on the board," says Mark,
"we don't like to do it that way." "So no Broras, no Port Ellens, it's a dangerous precedent to buy them." All the whiskies on the board are priced by age and strength.
We ask, with all the new independent bottlers, if some may be tempted to sell whiskies for something they're not. But Mark doesn't
think so. He doesn't believe in counterfeiting. "It seems like there's a new independent every six months, and they have to be good
or they'd go out of business." Conversation turns to the new Springbank blend, Campbeltown Loch 25yo, and soon glasses appear and
we're dramming. It's a full-bodied dram with lots of spice and smoke. Good we agree, very good. Not quite a skalk, we've had our breakfast, but an augury of good drams ahead.
All too soon we're back on the road, crossing the Forth Bridge deeper into Scotland.
The countryside rolls by. We're hungry, looking for a spot to eat, when signs for the Scottish Liqueur Centre take us off the highway.
An amiable Frank Ibbertson greets us heartily and offers samples of all his wares. Fruit-flavoured, whisky-based liqueurs are not of
much interest, but his bottling of Old Pulteney catches our collective eye. Distilled in 1990 and bottled April 2003 at 64% (by Beinn A'
Cheo) it's spirity and spicy in the little plastic tasting cup. At 35GBP it's probably a bargain, but without a proper taste who really
knows? Odd isn't it? People put so much craft into producing and promoting their whiskies, then turn them over to merchants who
take no care at all in presenting them to consumers. How often at a whisky fair or in a shop are we offered some rare dram in a
plastic cup seemingly designed to hide any nose? Puzzling. Still, it's been a delightful visit and we can't leave entirely empty-handed,
so we settle for a couple of nips of Columbia Cream, an eggnog like whisky liqueur bottled at 17% by John Murray and Co of Mull. Frank directs us to a little restaurant just down the road as we bid him goodbye.
Blair Athol bills itself as "The Heart of Bells" and everywhere the blend gets at least equal billing to the single malt. The name, we are told comes from blair
, 'a field' and athol, 'an island'. Flooding earlier in the spring had indeed turned the little 'stream of the otter' that now trickles by, into a lake leaving the distillery an island. We'll hear more
of the flooding as we visit other distilleries this week. Blair Athol is a workhorse of a distillery where a combination of brewers' and distillers' yeasts turns 24 tonnes of Prisma and Chariot barleys into nearly
10,000 bottles of whisky each day. Almost all is destined for the blender, though several single 'Flora and Fauna' bottlings have been released. We taste a Blair Athol 12yo
(43%, F&F). It has a warm, rich and creamy nose with lots of malt and is sweet and spicy on the palate with a mild bitterness and a slight astringency. Scores, except for my own 74 points, hover in the 80 range.
Sandy tells us that good barley will have a germination rate of 39 grains out of 40.
Much discussion in whisky circles has taken place around why the new make is diluted to a mid-60's abv before casking, but Sandy
has a simple explanation. "It's standardized by government regulation," he says. "We put it into the cask at 63.5%." "Are the best
casks selected for your single malt?" we ask, and are surprised at the answer: "No." Rather, whisky destined for bottling as a single
is selected at the time of casking. That intended for blending is aged in American bourbon casks which have been treated for three
months with Spanish sherry, while Spanish amontillado sherry casks are used to age that to be bottled as a single. With pride, Sandy
tells us that Blair Athol also produces a 25yo that goes into Johnny Walker Blue Label. The tour finished, we stand outside looking at
high water marks from the recent flood. Sandy explains the stone walls of the distillery buildings are black, not because of pollution
but from the growth of a fungus that thrives in the alcohol-rich air. A tour of the shop and a few souvenirs and we head into town.
While the rest of us catch our breath, Serge is off to find a special Brora at the local whisky shop.
We have reservations at an inn, but arrive to find it overbooked. The proprietor has kindly found us other accommodations and we
head off to our own little Fawlty Towers. Recommended by the Scottish Tourist Board, it even has half a star. The proprietress
greets us with drunken candour, all smiles but barely able to remain coherent. With painful care she explains we need to give her an
emergency contact, in case, "God Forbid," "anything" should happen. Is she going to butcher us in the night we wonder? It's been
an elegant old manor, but is now run right down. We settle in then gather for drams and chatter. Serge has prepared a mystery malt.
It's smoky in the bottle, but less so in the glass and the licorice and leather nose, with overtones of grain and malt says it's an Islay.
The nose has deceived us on the peatiness for it's a monster on the palate and quite spicy. Serge can't contain himself any longer and announces it as a vatting of 8 Islays, all 20yo or older. A fun start to an evening of dramming.
Next comes an Ardbeg 8yo 1992/2000 (43%, Signatory Vintage). The nose is sour and malty with smoke, beer, yeast, kippers, fish,
clay and barn smells. Powerful. On the palate mud, dirt and ashes – cigarette ashes- dominate and the complexity of the nose is
lost. There's no salt in whisky, but this dram has a saltiness. It's spicy, sour and very sweet in the back of the throat, like a sweet licorice. Our ratings converge around my own at 83 points.
Several years ago I came across a mini of Talisker 8yo 1988/1996 (45%, Milroy's). It was a fine smoky dram, but when I went back
for a full bottle, it was sold out so it was with great anticipation that we cracked open a sample provided by Serge. This Talisker has a
sweet nose replete with dry candied xmas fruit. There's some honey there too, and lots of peat among the nose tickle. It's sweet
and hot on the palate with a spiciness that develops into hot black pepper. It just tingles on the tongue and is everything I remember. For Johannes it scores at 82, Serge and I give it 88 points
and Krishna 86. Delightful. We finish off the evening with a Nikka White (43%, OB) Japanese malt with a growing reputation. 
Arriving in Pitlochry late in the afternoon, we head over to Blair Athol
distillery where we meet Sandy Spence, a tall, ruddy-faced man in a red sweater. I'm starting to feel a bond: Spences were among my
Orcadian Scots forebears who came out to Rupert's Land more than 2 centuries ago to work in the fur trade. Sandy guides us through the distillery and at every stop we have more questions, to the mild
annoyance of some tourists who have joined us. They want to get on with it, but it's our first distillery and we have so much to ask. Sandy patiently takes his time to answer us, but it's clear he's a
guide, not a distiller, and soon we bring it down a notch or two.
Part of the Guinness group, Blair Athol has first pick from the 500,000 tonnes of barley Guinness buy each year. Fittingly, the best
barley goes into the malt whisky, with the rest used to brew Guinness. Whisky starts out as beer (without hops of course) as well,
and the beer smells in washback number 8, at 10% abv, have distinctly Belgian aromas, entirely lacking in peatiness. The first
distillation produces low wines at about 25% abv, while the second distillation brings the abv up to about 70%. "It's like eating a fish"
Sandy tells us when describing how the middle cut, the finest clearic, is selected. "You cut the head and tail off."
Walking through town we stumble on the famed Robertson's grocery store, home to many a fine malt, and many a fine tale as well.
Allan Robertson comes to the door with a smile, explaining that they're just closing, but after a brief discussion invites us to find
Serge, then come knock on the door. Proprietors Allan and Isla are keen to talk whisky and invite us back behind the counter to look
at the rare and old stuff and it's here that our first gem, an old Glendronach 20 yo from 1990, appears. The Robertsons, unlike the
staff at Royal Mile Whiskies, are in no hurry to say goodbye, and it's not until we've seen all they have, and they have plenty, that we bid them adieu.
The nose is mildly peaty and slightly oaky with esters and spirits. On the tongue it's peaty and dry with mild lavender-like perfumes. It's sweet but mildly astringent. The perfume lingers, but it's a pleasant perfume.
- - -
Tour time arrives and with his best wishes, Iain departs, turning us over to Donald, our tour guide. Only three men are working here
Donald tells us. So who were those lassies we saw arriving to work half an hour ago? Well, like many distilleries, Edradour does good
trade in tourists, but to keep its reputation, does not count those staff who do not actually make whisky. One wonders, if proportions
are constant, how many tour guides and sales clerks it takes to support the 16 men of Tain, but that for another visit. Glenmorangie's not on this year's itinerary.
On the way over for an initial dram, Donald tells us Edradour's water comes from Moulin Moor. Later we'll see it trickling by in the burn
and flowing over the unique cooling worm coils. Edradour uses casks made in Spain of Spanish oak. The casks are loaned for three
years to a sherry maker, then toasted, but not charred before being filled with Edradour's new make. Arriving in the tasting room, our
drams await. Truly civilized these Scots; it can't be noon and already we're having a wee nip. We've been served the 10yo, a chill
filtered whisky at 40% abv. The nose is rich and fruity, and I'm hopeful of another creamy wonder. But no, the palate is sweet, then
a passing bitterness kills my hope of cream. A delightful heathery perfume emerges in the middle and it's nice and spicy. The finish has the grainy malt I remember. A good Edradour, yes, but still no cigar.
We ask about changes now that Signatory has bought Edradour and Donald tells us they'll be making a peated malt about 6 months of
the year. This is exciting. Iain Henderson - the great Iain Henderson of Laphroaig fame - is going to make a peated malt at Edradour.
We beg for a sample of clearic, but Donald thinks none is at hand. Edradour is distilled from Optic barley. Using 21 sacks of yeast and
1.25 tons of grist a day they turn out a mere 15 casks of whisky a week. The first mash is done at 64 degrees, the second at 80
then the worts cooled to 20 to 22 degrees. 6,000 litres of worts are produced daily. The washbacks are dark and waxy and Serge
blames them for the inconsistent performance. They smell like apple cider with lots of CO2 in the back of the throat. The wash goes
into the still at 8% abv and emerges from the first distillation as low wines at 22%. A second distillation raises the abv to 70–80%.
Aha!! the first inconsistency. On final distillation, the first cut of 10 to 12 minutes is discarded as foreshots. Then for about an hour
and a half the middle cut is taken for maturation. Feints and foreshots are returned to the still for re-distilling. Whatever the abv of
the new make, it is diluted with spring water to 63.5% before being put to bed in the casks. It takes three days to make a batch and 10 years to age it, although there are 3 or 4 casks at 18 years on the premises and 3 or 4 at 25yo.
Wandering into the gift shop afterwards, all is a bustle. Tourists (like us) are picking up little mementoes: from fudge to a good range
of Signatory whiskies. Standing by the cash, we spy none other than Andrew Symington, the new proprietor. We've become used to
Scottish hospitality, and figuring Andrew must be there to greet the likes of us, we wander over for a chat. Not so. He is brusque
and dismissive. Perhaps the cast on his foot is hiding some pain, but the one he gives us is higher up and in softer tissue.
The drive to Inverness takes us through picturesque highlands and there, on both sides of the road, we pass a ski resort. Skiing in
Scotland? Who'd o' thunk it? The hills are short by Canadian standards, and amenities consist of primitive lifts, parking lots and some
ramshackle out buildings. We press on until we see a sign directing us to Royal Lochnagar, nestled quietly away right behind the
queen's house. One wonders what they talk of over the fence. Lochnagar distillery is closed but we walk the tidy grounds, here and
there catching whiffs of malty mashes. Pretty. Krishna, or one of his friends, knows the distillery manager, and we have to restrain
him from marching up to the house to ask for a special tour. It's Sunday we remind him, let the man enjoy time with his family. So, back into the car and onward.
Tomintoul, next stop, and once again we are late. The Whisky Castle closes at 5:00 and we arrive just in time to see Mike Drury
pulling the sign in. The lights are off but he invites us in. Mike has recently bought the Whisky castle, a retail outlet in Tomintoul, and
one Serge has heard, may hide some treasures. Mike is a naturally sociable gent who followed a circuitous route into the whisky
business. At one time a chef, on yachts and a documentary filmmaker in the US, he's a whisky merchant, and a very hospitable one.
He's become a great promoter of Tomintoul, and proudly produces the just-released 16yo. I'm not a Tomintoul fan, but Mike's enthusiasm is infectious and soon I'm enjoying "the gentle dram"; Tomintoul 16yo
(40%, OB). I am delighted Mike persisted. The nose is quite honeyed with wood, oak, spirit and a bit of grass. There's even a hint of pine pitch in there. The palate follows through
with similar notes and lots of gentle maltiness. Score it at 82 points I figure; Serge comes in at 83. It's getting dark when we arrive in Inverness but soon we find our hotel. We're seated at a cement table just beside the hotel, enjoying the late Scottish evening. We move on to a German independent bottling; the Tomatin 21yo (43%, Culinara). The nose is fresh with lemony fudge. It's very
complex: - fresh grass, grapefruit, eucalyptus – very fresh and citric. On the palate it begins sweet but quickly becomes astringent.
Following on with musty fruit and very ripe passion fruit. It's dry and bitter on the roof of the mouth and finishes off very sweet with a bit of wood. I score it at 81 points, Krishna and Johannes at 84. An
Ardmore 11yo 1992/2003 (43%, Signatory Vintage) follows. I like this one a lot. The nose has chlorine and smoke and is mildly
antiseptic. Krishna is teaching me to find citrus in my malts, and it is here along with peat. The palate is peaty and spicy with licorice
– sweet licorice. It's a long finish – sweet yet dry, bitter and peaty. The Ardmore gets 86 points on my list but Johannes and Krishna come in lower at 79 and 82 respectively.
It's getting late, but one more malt beckons; the Rosebank 20yo 1978/1998 (60.1%, UDRM). The nose begins with menthol, lemon
grass and a hint of smoke followed by spirit and grassy malt. It's very sweet on the palate and hot and spicy. A wonderful bitter
orange lurks behind then real lemon fruit. I'm a sucker for malts that develop on the palate, and this is a great one. Finally a sweetness emerges followed by salt licorice and sweet licorice combined. Marvellous. 
Next morning we decide to walk the couple of miles to Edradour. We want to see everything, but slowly, and it's a glorious hot sunny day to do so. Arriving early we're standing around chatting and taking
photos, when who should walk by, but Iain Henderson, replete in well-worn coveralls and a Laphroaig polo shirt. He remembers Serge from previous encounters and stops to chat. He's on his way to
breakfast after an early morning shift, but not too hungry to talk whisky with a few aficionados. Edradour is the smallest distillery in Scotland, known best for its very inconsistent quality. My first was a
creamy, minty delight and each thereafter a disappointment so I'm hoping Henderson, who was Mr. Laphroaig until his recent departure, will bring Edradour consistently up to the standards of that one bottle
I remember so well. Inconsistency hasn't hurt sales as a single malt, however. Edradour now sells only 5% of its output to blenders, down from nearly 70% a few years ago. And is it just the worst casks that
go to blenders? Well, no. The blenders know what they want, and if they don't like a cask they'll just send it back. In truth, they get their pick from the warehouse.
There's a veritable automobile museum in the lot and we stop to admire a Morgan Plus 8, and a range of other beauties, including the
maharaja's Rolls. After dinner we gather outside to watch the river and share a few drams, beginning with Serge's sample of the Garneath 1969/1990
(47%, Humbrecht). Well, I say Serge's, because he brought it, but in fact it is a token from another malt
maniac. It seems years ago Olivier Humbrecht's father obtained the whole barrel and it has sat at his vineyard in Alsace. Only
available through charity auctions now, Serge tells us. It's a rare old grain whisky; made all the more intriguing as the Lowland
distillery itself is now long-since demolished. The nose is powerful and immediately I know what that underlying smell is in almost
every blend. It's grain alcohol. It's powerful yet soft and has an overwhelming vanilla. Back in Ottawa I'll share the last few drops
with Johanna and Charles who will immediately say "Bourbon", for yes, it has the vanilla of new oak. The nose is sweet and sour with
wood, tannins, esters and spirit. On the palate it's sweet and oily but with a woody bitterness. There's lots of vanilla and plenty of
spice with a nice woody dryness. It's spent some time in a sherry cask and is very sweet in the back of the mouth. The mouth feel
begins quite smooth, but moves soon into astringency. A very complex whisky and an absolute delight. I score it at 82 points, while
Krishna, Johannes and Serge give it 85. Must try it again some day to see if I can find those other three points.
Next up is the
Glen Garioch 12yo (43%, National Trust for Scotland). It has a very fruity nose with pineapple and pear. The mild
spirit intensifies with swirling, but gives no nose tickle. It's weak and watery on the palate and quite sweet with notes of sherry and fruit followed by a slightly floral perfume. Nice and spicy, our scores converge on 76 points
, with Krishna slightly higher at 80.
I score it at 90 points, Serge at 89, Johannes at 88 and Krishna at 92.
- - -
Craig and Rosemary Daniels meet us next morning at Benromach.
Benromach uses 1½ tons of Optic and Golden Promise barley malt to make 600 litres of whisky a day. The current G&M release is an
18yo from days of yore, but G&M have also produced their own make some of which is now 5yo and will be released in 2004 as an nas.
Benromach is peated to 8ppm but they have also laid down a small amount for a heavily peated special edition at 30ppm. "The
Speyside whisky of the 1940's was quite smoky," Derek tells us. The 30ppm grist is very smoky, but the 8ppm smells more like a horse
barn. The washbacks are made of Oregon pine and again, the familiar cider that we smelled at Edradour is the dominant odour, but
here, the cider is much sweeter. Benromach does 5 washes a week, and each spends 4 days in the washbacks. Both brewers' and
distillers' yeasts are used for the fermentation. CO2 extractors collect the gas off the washbacks. Some distilleries sell the CO2 to
soft drinks manufacturers, but at Benromach, well with all the sights and sounds, we just forgot to ask.
The wash comes in hot, but is cooled to 20 degrees before the yeast is added. Benromach uses one wash still and one spirit still, and
each is cleaned after every use. The stills, which are heated by steam plates, are short and dumpy giving a heavier body to the
whisky. The first distillation gives low wines at about 40% abv. These are concentrated to 70% with the second distillation. As a
little novelty, Benromach is using the spirit safe from the destroyed Millburn distillery. Unlike Edradour, Benromach runs off a lot more
foreshots before going to the middle cut. Foreshots are run for about an hour, followed by another hour collecting the middle cut then
about 4 hours of feints. The middle cut represents about 10% of the distillation, and each day's new make is held until the following Monday, when it is filled into casks.
Both bourbon and sherry casks are used, and the sherry casks are both first and second fill. Benromach has 500 litre sherry casks
made in Spain and loans them for 3 to 5 years for sherry. The casks are then shipped to the distillery whole with a litre of sherry left
inside. The whisky itself, is quite appealing, though we are aware we are tasting output from the old days. The 18yo at 40% has a
honeyed, mild citrus nose with brown sugar. It is rich and full-bodied. On the palate it is sweet with some wood but not bitter or
tannic. It has medium spiciness though it does get spicier over time. Again, more wood but without any attendant bitterness. It is
quite, quite fruity with lots of burnt orange. The Benromach 28yo 1973 at 40% is rich and creamy on the nose. There's lemon oil there and sherry and lots of subtle undertones. On the palate it's sweet, spicy and very creamy.
Soon we hop into cars for the trip over to the G&M headquarters. Gordon and MacPhail also use their own casks, buying new make
from various distilleries to fill them, then mature in their own warehouses. G&M whiskies are usually bottled at 40% because they find
this whisky easier to sell as taxes are lower on lower abvs. The connoisseurs are having an influence though, because this year 20 to
30 whiskies in the Connoisseurs' Choice range will go to a tasting panel to determine optimum strength before bottling. The CC range will be released at 40, 43 and 46% depending on what best suits the individual whisky. Gordon and MacPhail often release dated whiskies, Ardbeg 1991 for example. However, not all bottles are filled at the same time, and
not all whisky will come from a single batch. As stocks run low, new batches are prepared, and the whisky may by then be older.
Thus Ardbeg 1991 may be a 12yo, a 13yo, or a 14yo. After some time has passed, the labels may be changed to reflect the ageing stocks. Glenburgie 8yo for example will soon be released as a 10yo because the casks are getting older.
After the tour we retire to Derek's office and his well-stocked bar for a wee drop before setting off.
Craig hurrys us. Ronnie Cox of Berry Bros. & Rudd has arranged to meet us at Rothes House at 2:00 for lunch followed by a distillery
tour. We are honoured. Glen Rothes is not generally open to the public. Arriving early we are greeted by Marion Ferguson who has
laid out a fabulous spread of sandwiches on the sunny patio behind the stone mansion. Ronnie arrives and it is quickly clear he has
stories to tell. Berry Bros. & Rudd are famous for their Cutty Sark brand, a blended Scotch so bland you scarcely know you're drinking.
But the firm also has interests in Glen Rothes, a single malt, only 10 years on the market as such, and Glen Rothes is at the exact
opposite end of the flavour spectrum. It's hard to reconcile the idea of the two whiskies coming from the same organisation, but they
do. Well, in part anyway. Ownership of Glen Rothes is shared equally between the Edrington Group and BB&R. The Edrington Group also owns Highland Park, and 50% of Macallan, along with interests in Tamdhu.
Berry Bros. & Rudd began as wine merchants and until 1923 were selling whiskies made by others. "In the 1920's" Ronnie tells us,
"people began demanding a lighter whisky that wouldn't disguise fine wines." The whisky got its name from a Scottish expression for a
short shirt as used by Robbie Burns in his poem, Tam O'Shanter. "Cutty Sark," he tells us, "got going during prohibition, used by Alex
McCoy as the currency because it was hard to duplicate." The now famous yellow label was a mistake we are told. "Cutty Sark was
supposed to have a beige label, but a printer's mistake produced the yellow one." Whew! I guess they must have been in quite a
rush to get that first shipment out the door that they couldn't wait for the proper labels. Of course Cutty Sark is inextricably
associated with the ship of the same name, and in fact Berry Bros. & Rudd have helped sponsor the ship's restoration. Glen Rothes produces about 5.9 million litres annually and age the majority of it right on site.
At Glen Rothes Chariot barley is used at the beginning of the distilling season and Optic near the end.
In the distillery we taste the warm beer, called "Joe," and find it, not surprisingly, quite malty.
A lot of Glen Rothes business is done on the sale of new spirit to blenders. Glen Rothes, we are told, is one of the top three whiskies
used for top dressing blends. The distillery contributes 30% of the character, maturation 70% of the character of the whisky.
Spanish oak gives a much redder whisky while American oak gives a lighter colour and more elegance. For vintage Glen Rothes they
take the best casks so some years there might be more American oak and some years more Spanish. The tour ends with a visit to one
of the low earthen-floored warehouses. Three barrels await us, and Marion draws samples for us to inspect. Which of these is the
oldest she asks and all of us but Craig are drawn to a dark whisky. Craig has detected the fragility of age in one of the other samples and stands alone in front of his chosen cask. He smiles when Marion gives him the nod.
It's been a tremendous learning experience touring Glen Rothes, but we wince when back at the house, Ronnie suggests we try a dram
of Cutty Sark. But it's not the standard issue. No, he has a new one – Cutty Sark 25yo and it is a dilly. It's a blend alright, but only
technically, for it has, and tastes like it has, merely drops of grain whisky in it. It's a rich fruity dram, and no grain spirit comes
through. Very rich and malt like. On the other hand, when we try the Glen Rothes clearic, it is very much the opposite: more like
grappa or eau de vie. Marion is right. At least 70% of the character waits to be imparted by the cask. So it must have been excellent casks indeed that aged the three Glen Rothes vintage samples that follow: The
Glen Rothes 1989/2000 (43%, OB) is sweet and fruity on the nose with molasses (what some call treacle), brown sugar and
sherry. The palate is sweet, rich and spicy. Adding water the nose expands and fills with citric smells dominated by oranges.
Reluctantly we bid Ronnie and Marion farewell. It's been a marvelous day and now we head over to Craig and Rosemary's "Tormore Cottage" for dinner and drams. Johannes wants us to work on the The first has a light nose with fish, cigarette ash, spirit, wood, citrus and mild smoke.
The next Pandora malt has a grassy, creamy nose. It smells milky, malty, with sweet spices – gingerbread, mild peat and lemon. It
has a slight nose tingle. On the palate it's sweet and spicy and hot. Slightly bitter wood comes through along with vanilla and cedary wood. Sherry notes bounce around in the background. Krishna and I rate it at
82 points, Craig 85, and Serge 81. Third up is a malt with a sweet and sour nose, sherry and some nose tickle. Our next blind malt begins with another sweet and sour nose. This one has sour mash as well, and is slightly peaty. It's musty with
grass and dry grass. Vanilla and more citric essences waft in and out. The palate is hot then sweet, the sweetness of spirit. Craig and I think it rates 77 points, Serge and Krishna 78, Johannes 71. The next unknown quickly follows: Nose: fresh, lime, sweet with a hint of spruce or pine.
Next up, a whisky with mild cigar tobacco and pine on the nose. The palate tastes of sugar water and burnt wood then gets mildly bitter at the end. All but Serge rate it at 78 points
, while Serge gives it 79 points. More convergence. We turn to Johannes who reveals Teannich 1982/1998 (40% Connoisseur's Choice). Another malt for the Matrix. Now Craig pulls out some samples beginning with
Fettercairn 26yo 1970 (57%, Signatory Vintage). We'll taste some mighty fine malts at Glenfarclas tomorrow, but now Craig wants to prepare us with another 'Farclas.
Next Craig wants to take us on a tour of his homeland, perhaps to lure us to Australia for his birthday in a couple of years. He's done
a good job already with the Glenfarclas and the Fettercairn, but now he shifts gears and brings out the homegrown Australian malts.
Australian wines are known to be big, fruity and powerful, but not so Australian whiskies. Our palates are getting tired however, so
now, if ever, is the time to taste the water of Antipodan life. I have a bottle of Sullivan's Cove at home, and quite like it's exotic
spoiled-fruit flavours. "They put the best malt in that one," Craig tells me when I describe the bottle. His first offering is a somewhat lesser malt, the Sullivan's Cove 2yo
(40%, OB). The first whiff is sulphur. It's sweet with hints of matches, chocolate, meat, vegemite, oxo and walnuts. Malt whisky alright, but just. I rate it at 65 points.
I've not tried Lark's before, and Craig has brought two of them. First up, Larks Sept '02 3yo matured in ex-bourbon – Jim Beam
barrels. It's sweet and estery, very, very sweet and has a funny feel that can only be described as gritty. 62 points is the best I can do. Only slightly better is Lark's Jan '03 4yo muscat cask
. Here I find my slightly rotten fruit. It's sweet and musty, very sweet but bitter and astringent. A hint of mud adds a new dimension to the background. I give it 66 points, the best so far from the
land down under. It's about a three hour flight from Australia to New Zealand, but if you're looking for good indigenous malts, well, better indigenous malts, either you or the whisky will have to make the trip. Lammerlaw 12yo
(50.5%, Meignors) is Craig's next offering. It's a bit more complex, or at least it has a greater range of essences. On the nose there's horse barn, bananas, esters – sweet with some
spirit. In the mouth it's hot, hot and drying. Estery. So hot and burning. We're in the 70's now, 73 points to be exact. The last of the Ozzies is Great Outback NAS
(40%, OB). My palate is beginning to fade but I risk rating it at 72 points. Thanks Craig, for that little tour of your homeland. I'll be there for your birthday and maybe force you to try our own Canadian Glen Breton.
Shamefully, we end the day with Bunnahabhain 25yo 1964/1990 (46%, Signatory Vintage). The nose is a little odd with burning
grass, beery notes, sweet, very hot and spicy with traces of mild peat. I have the good sense not to score it, but next morning regret wasting such a fine dram on a spent palate. Well, live and learn.
Craig has arranged for Derek Hancock to give us a tour. Benromach is now in the hands of Gordon and MacPhail, independent bottlers
since 1895. With possibly the largest collection of maturing whisky in Scotland, it seems natural they should branch out into distilling,
so in 1993 they bought the remains of Benromach, which had been abandoned ten years earlier. Five years of work finally brought the
distillery back into production in 1998 and visiting here now lets us say we have visited the two smallest distilleries in Scotland, for
Benromach is larger than only Edradour. It's smaller though if you count staff, for Edradour employs three workers, while two, a brewer and a manager run Benromach. 
We enter the G&M warehouse and the first smell is – alcohol. Derek
tells us all kinds of little secrets. Off whisky he says, may be re-casked in new sherry to fix it. Really bad whisky is simply destroyed. (Why not just sell it to Loch Dhu we wonder, and let
them make it even worse.) Glen Avon is a Speyside single malt, but Derek won't tell us which one. All expressions of MacPhail's malt come from the same distillery. The warehouse contains about 5000
casks, and Derek tells us there are more rare and old whiskies here than anywhere else in the world. Before long I stumble on a Glen Grant from my birth year, 1948, and Derek offers to sell it to me.
G&M whiskies are cold filtered at 4 to 7 degrees and the filters become quite brown indeed. The same filters are used for one whisky after another so bottling begins with lighter flavoured whiskies and
proceeds on to the more powerfully flavoured. Much has been removed, though a lot of it is just chunks of debris. After filtration the whisky is diluted to 40% with demineralized water then CO2
bubbles are pumped through to mix the whisky.
A wonderful day we've had, and it's only just begun.
The whisky is released in "vintages" with about 1500 cases per vintage. It's a rich, full-flavoured whisky, rapidly becoming a
connoisseur's whisky, despite very little advertising, or perhaps because of it. Glen Rothes is aged in sherry casks, which have been
stored with sherry makers at a cost to the distillery of $70 per year. Casks are normally filled at 63.5%. Edrington maintains total
control of the wood. "When you are ageing for blends you take less care of the wood," Ronnie tells us. "Except for G&M and
Cadenhead's the independent bottlers can be quite unscrupulous, bottling casks that were intended for blending." I'm reminded that
blenders won't accept some of Edradour's casks. Ahh, whisky. Everyone knows exactly how it works, and everyone disagrees.
All of the barley comes from the UK, and most of it from Scotland. "There is a floor maltings at Tamdhu making 8 tonnes a week, but
we use 5 tonnes per mash so we don't use the floor maltings." "We can make 40 tonnes of malt a day using Saladin boxes." It takes
44 tonnes of barley at 12% moisture to make 40 tonnes of malt at 4%. The barley spends 5 days in the Saladin box then germination
is stopped, not by heat, but by drying. That is, heat is used to dry the green malt, not roast it. Peating is done at the beginning of
the drying period as the moist barley will absorb a lot more smoke. One wheel barrow load of peat is used per 40 tonnes of malt giving
a 0.3% peating level. Marion handed us a block of dry black peat at lunch. Then let us sample peated and unpeated dry malts. The
malted barley is crumbly and friable and the rootlets are shaken off before mashing to be made into sheep pellets.
"Barley that is high in nitrogen produces less alcohol," she tells us.
Glen Rothes started as a small distillery owned by the people who owned Macallan, and they set out with a goal to make a malt better
than Macallan. Glen Rothes uses distillers' yeast exclusively which produces a slightly more alcoholic wash. The low wines come off
at 25%, slightly more alcohol than Edradour, but much less than Benromach. The spirit stills are larger than the wash stills. The
middle cut is 16% of the total run while the feints make up the largest part of the distillate. Feints and foreshots are recycled but at
the end of distilling periods they are passed through purifying charcoal then disposed of. They say 70% abv is too strong to put into
the cask as it gives an overwhelming wood flavour, so their new make is diluted to 63.5%. Are we starting to see a trend here?
The Glen Rothes 1979/2002
(43%, OB) is rich in vanilla with marzipan and citric overtones again.
It's much spicier and very, very hot.
The Glen Rothes 1973/2000
(43%, OB) has a nose distinctly of cotton candy. It's slightly estery and sherried.
Very fragile on the palate Craig calls it. The peat comes through along with pepper and leather.
On the palate it's lemony, sweet, woody, with a mild bitterness and some licorice.
Bladnoch we guess, or Rosebank or Littlemill. Not a bad dram to start off with.
Craig, Serge and I rate is at 78 points
, Krishna at 80 and Johannes at 77. Our scoring is beginning to converge.
It was an Allt a Bhaine 1989/1999 (50%, Milroy's), Johannes tells us.
It was the Balmenach 10yo (43%, Scottish Wildlife) Johannes tells us.
The palate is quite hot and spicy then quickly becomes sweet. Again there's sherry, then mild perfume.
It's quite sweet and fruity. I score it at 81 points, Craig and Krishna at 85, Serge 83, and Johannes 79.
The identity: Banff 18yo 1980 (43%, Chieftain's) we're informed.
It's
Glenlossie 10yo 1989/2000 (43%, McGibbon's Provenance) we learn.
Sour mash, grapefruit, passion fruit, pineapple. Palate: sweet but mildly astringent with a citric feel. A bitterness almost like aspirin. Aspergum on the finish – almost gritty. I rate it at 75 points
, Craig 83, Serge 82, Krishna 80, Johannes 71.
We guess wrong, then Johannes reveals it's a Lochside 10yo (40%, OB, MacNab).
The nose is wonderful and unique. It's very sweet with balsam, a real sherry monster.
Tasting, but not making many notes I do jot down that it has a medium finish and score it at 76 points.
The nose of the Glenfarclas 22yo Millennium (43%, OB) reminds me of fruit and meat. On the tongue it's malty, sweet and fruity then so hot and spicy. I like this one even better and rate it at 95 points.
- - - Craig and Rosemary had rented the three bedroom Tormore Cottage in Carrbridge as a base of operations for their month in Scotland.
Their generosity in extending invitations to all the maniacs to join provided an ample dramming time-space continuum, of which we
took full advantage. But Craig was in Scotland for more serious pursuits as well. As a key organiser of the Australian Whisky
Convention Craig also had a busy schedule of whisky meetings. Having already benefited from his contacts at G&M/Benromach and Glen Rothes, it was with eager anticipation that we set off next morning for the first stop: Glenfarclas.
Glenfarclas has been a father and son enterprise for six generations and our guide
today was to be none other than the current "son", George Grant himself. It was a lovely warm Scottish morning when George arrived and immediately we knew
something was off. He looked harried and distracted. Disaster had struck our little tour. REVENUERS!!! as the hillbillies call 'em. Today, of all days, government
inspectors – 8 excise men, one of whom is a woman – have arrived to verify that the bonds are bonded, the seals sealed and the corks corked, or whatever it is they
contribute to our beloved elixir. In any case, George apologised for the disruption and, leaving us in the hands of distillery worker Jock, went off to keep the orange
coats happy. "You'll not be able to tour the warehouses today," Jock told us, "technically we are supposed to write to the government for permission to let
anyone in with the maturing whisky." Well, downside, yes, but here we were finally going to get a tour by a rank and file distillery man. No tour guide shpeil, no PR
man's bullshit, no manager's careful revelations. No, this time it was going to be another dimension – a raw and a rough one. Glenfarclas has a quaint setting, but make no mistake, it's a going concern. As we
walked down to the yard a tanker truck was pulling out. New make being shipped off to a blender we presumed. The buildings are low, blackened stone with grey mortar
and red trimmed woodwork. Outside it looks like nothing more than an abandoned cattle yard, but in these low buildings 60,000 casks of Glenfarclas lie in silent hibernation.
The distillery uses Prisma barley and buys its malt now, paying upwards of 300 GBP per tonne as opposed to the going rate of 50 to 60
GBP per tonne for raw barley. Until 1960, however, they made their own malt using a fire of 50% peat and 50% coke or coal to
produce a lightly peated malt. After passing through a malt dresser to remove the big chunks and then a destoner, 15 tonnes of malt
is ground into grist to be combined with 68,000 liters of water for each mash. Destoning is a curious process, and we had a chance to
see a destoner demonstrated at Benromach. Very low-tech, it uses vibrations to separate the heavy stones from the lighter barley
malt, very similar to the process used to pan gold out of creek beds. Stones are removed, not because they will dull the grinders, but because grain dust is highly explosive, and care must be taken to ensure there are no sparks.
Like most distilleries, Glenfarclas washes each mash several times to ensure the maximum yield of barley sugars to ferment into beer.
Throughout our visits we noticed great care was taken to maximize yields at each step of the process, and here at Glenfarclas we
learned of another economy, for the third wash, called "sparge" is held back, to be re-used as the first wash on the next batch. Just
another way of keeping production as high as possible. After 48 hours of fermentation the washes have an abv of 6%. This is distilled
in the wash stills into low wines at 25%abv, which in turn goes through the spirit stills to emerge at 74% abv. The new spirit is
casked in Spanish sherry casks if it is to become Glenfarclas, and plain oak casks if it is to be sold to blenders. All Glenfarclas is
natural in colour, and when colour adjustments are called for, whiskies from sherry and bourbon casks are mixed. Hmmm, wonder what that does to the flavour profile! Casks are left on site to mature in the low stone warehouses. The tour over, we are greeted by Ian McWilliam, another distillery worker.
Next follows a little experiment. Ian pours us two 8yo, cask strength drams, the first from bourbon wood, the second from sherry. The bourbon casked sample, Glenfarclas 8yo 'Bourbon'
(70%, OB, bourbon cask sample, 2003) is quite sweet, like the new make, but is also quite bitter. The malt has mellowed a bit and there is spiciness developing. I'd expect more vanilla from bourbon wood, but
find none. Not a great dram, but a wonderful setting with delightful company pulls it up to a score of 76 points. The effects of sherry wood contrast sharply with those of bourbon when we try the next sample,
Glenfarclas 8yo 'Sherry' (70%, OB, oloroso cask sample, 2003). This one seems older, or more mature for it has a much greater spectrum of flavours. Again, it is very sweet, but this time the
bitterness resides beneath a veneer of sherry – real sherry. There's a powerful raisin nose. It's very spicy, very inviting, very –
sherried. Again, quite bitter. I like it. I'd buy it if the price were right. To my palate it scores about 78 points. Next up is our little experiment and it's a real revelation as well.
We've already been favourably impressed with Rosemary's good nature and amazed at how she tolerates Craig's obsession with
whisky. Now she just knocks our socks off, for Ian hands her the two bottles and asks her to vat them into a drinkable Glenfarclas.
With confidence and aplomb she adds from the bourbon cask, and the sherry butt until she's satisfied. Ian turns to us for an assessment. Glenfarclas 8yo 'Vatting'
(70%, OB, Rosemary Daniels' vatting, 2003). It is just delightful. This one is a keeper at 81
points. Together, the bitterness has receded and the dominant flavours are brown sugar, with a bit of sourness and lots of spice.
The proponents of home vatting have just won another convert when we see just how much a carefully made mixture can exceed its constituents. Synergy they call it, or magic. Glenfarclas 10yo
(40%, OB) Remarkable, yet unremarkable, this favoured gem back home impresses me less than Rosemary's vatting. The sherry and malt are both there in the nose, and the bitterness is gone from the palate. Glenfarclas NAS '105' (60%, OB) we are told is 10yo unless marked as younger. This is another whisky I like and it stands up well
here in the distillery. The sweetness of the Glenfarclas clearic shines through, but with more sherry. I can begin to understand how some people can predict the quality of the aged malt just by tasting the new make. Glenfarclas 21yo
(43%, OB) Here is a clear shift in flavour profile, and it's a nice one. To the Glenfarclas essentials of malt, sherry
and sweet alcohol some sour mash is added. In the mouth there's lots of sherry along with Krishna's lemon. It's milder than its younger siblings and very fruity with notes of bourbon and conifer needles. Score at 80 points
. Glenfarclas 25yo (43%, OB) At this point, note taking fell into desuetude as serious dramming took hold. For the 25yo I have only recorded "candied orange" and a score of 84 points
. Great, but I'm waiting in anticipation for the 30yo. Glenfarclas 30yo (43% OB) The 30yo is very sherried. This was my first Glenfarclas some years ago, purchased from Rob Stevens
and downed in celebration with a friend in Geneva. It just blew us away, and neither of us knew what a good malt even tasted like
back then. I've looked longingly at the empty bottle many times wondering if I'd ever get to taste it properly and finally, here at the
distillery the occasion presents itself. Sherry dominates in this as in all of the Glenfarclas tasted so far. It's a delicate sherry, lying
comfortably under all kinds of developing flavours: now tropical fruit, now brown sugar, now caramel . . . There are soft wood tannins, but it's not woody. Sweet like a 'Farclas this is one to seek out. Scores at
87 points. Our last full day together was now half over and we were trying to cram in as much as possible, so we said our goodbyes to the
'Farclas folks and headed out in search of adventure. In Scotland there are always several choices of whisky activities at hand, and for a few minutes we thought we would tour a cooperage, but time was creeping up on us.
Besides, Craig had another appointment – this time at Aberlour. The distillery has not been in the business of giving tours, but this
year has decided to throw the distillery open and to do it right with a connoisseurs' tour. We arrive at the visitors' centre and are
greeted by Mary, a young lass with a nascent ruddiness in her face. Another of Craig's official visits gets us the VIP treatment and
we head back onto the grounds with a couple of other tourists not nearly as keen as we are to learn all the intricacies of Aberlour.
For my money, Aberlour is one of the most under-rated malts around, and certainly, in Canada, the 10yo is the best bang for the buck
malt available. The distillery is going through good times with steady growth of about 1 –2% annually. The year 2000 (remember the
dreaded Y2K) was an exceptional year, however, when Aberlour's market grew by a full 16%. Aberlour produces so many different
bottlings for so many markets that Mary doesn't know them all, but she tells us about those sold in the local market. For the local
market, drinking strength Aberlours are bottled at 40% in order to avoid excessive taxes and keep the price down. For the export
market, Aberlour prefer to bottle their whiskies at 43%. Amazing, isn't it, how government tax laws dictate parameters of consumer products. We head off to the tasting room where Mary sets out tasting mats and a good
selection of malts. She takes us quickly through the drams, but our interest is drawn to two casks from which she has drawn two of our samples. One is a bourbon
cask, the other an oloroso. These carefully selected prime casks are here for the true afficianado. Here you can fill and label your own Aberlour, straight from the
cask. We are thrilled. Gazing through the bottling records we see that others from all over the world have preceded us. Back at the shop we bid farewell to Mary. Here is how we spent our last evening together: Springbank NAS 'Private Bottling' 2003
(no abv, OB, Bottled for distillery visitors in 2003) The nose was most unusual with essences of crabmeat, vegetables, milky coconut, and dry wood. Sweet and south seas tropical. The palate also was sweet, and the
famous Springbank coconut shone through nicely. A very spicy dram it had quite a bite, becoming mildly astringent. Glenfarclas 22yo 'Millennium'
(43%, OB)
Macallan 18yo 1976/1995 (43%, OB) Fettercairn 25yo 1970/1996
(57%, Signatory Vintage, Distilled 10/9/1970, Bottled 1/1996, Cask #4709, bottle #114 of 202) Glendronach 20yo 1970/1990
(56%, Signatory Vintage Selection, Distilled 2/70, Bottled 7/90, Casks #513-518, bottle 1292 of 2400
5cl bottles). Nose: nose tickle, floor polish, leather and tobacco, very dry, wood, saltiness, xmas cake, dried fruit. Palate: very
woody and very hot and spicy. Sour, sweet and sour. Pepper – hot. Gravy – very intense. Tomintoul-Glenlivet 30yo 1966/1996
(52.7%, Signatory Vintage, Bourbon Cask #709, Bottle #60 of 249) Brora 1982/1999 (40%, Connoisseurs Choice) Bruichladdich 11yo 1986/1998 (46%, Murray McDavid), refill sherry Bruichladdich 1983/2001 'Ceramic' (46%, OB, 600 ceramic jugs)
Ardbeg 24yo 1975/2000 (50%, Douglas Laing OMC, 713 bottles) Ardbeg 27yo 1973/2000
(50%, Douglas Laing OMC, 240 bottles) Lagavulin 12yo Cask Strength 2002 Release (58%, OB).
Reluctantly, we bid our hosts goodnight and crawled into our beds. - - - Next morning bright and early Krishna, Johannes, Serge and I piled back into the car to begin the trek home.
Benrinnes 15yo (43%, Flora and Fauna)
That's only 16 points lower than week itself. Davin 
It's a lovely spot, Glenfarclas distillery.
The buildings are low and the visitors' centre most welcoming. We had arrived early, so entertained ourselves viewing a static display and climbing all over a retired still,
set out on the front lawn. A new still costs in the neighbourhood of 125,000GBP, so I can see why they didn't want to just sell it for scrap.
"The warehouses are low," Jock tells us, "so we don't have to install sprinklers."
Ian will walk us through a tasting of the Glenfarclas range. We meet in a splendid tasting hall, moved here from the salon of an ocean
liner. The walls are carved wood panels, probably made in Germany, and the flat, muted paint tones convey elegance and splendor.
Ian has done tastings a couple of times before, but he's not an expert, and once again we benefit from the candor of inexperience.
To kick things off, Ian offers a very fruity and very sweet sample of the powerful (70% abv) new spirit. Amazingly, it already has a rudimentary flavour profile including malty grains as well as the fruity sweetness.
Maybe I'm just expecting too much but this time it comes in at 77 points.
On the palate it is sweet, astringent and a bit sherried. Scores at 82 points. 
"Most Speyside whiskies," Mary says, "use 70% bourbon and 30% sherry casks." "The 10yo Aberlour" she continues "is a vatting of whiskies aged in bourbon and
sherry casks." The 15yo begins the same then is finished in 1st fill oloroso sherry casks and bottled at cask strength. At Aberlour, only first-fill oloroso casks are
used. Once again, the clearic is diluted to 63.5% before going into the cask. Aberlour uses Chariot and Optic barley which are spring barley varieties, and they
use brewers' yeast to give fruity flavours and distillers' yeast to give strength. The wash comes off at 8% then is sent to one of 2 wash stills to distil the low wines.
Two spirit stills are used to produce the new make. Mary tells us the stills start out a lovely pink hue, but over time they turn from pink to bronze. Whatever their
colour, the new make coming off the spirit stills consists of about 5% foreshots, 15% middle cut, 35% feints and about 45% spent leis.
She has little books for us and we pick up some nips and souvenirs in the gift shop. Our distillery tours have ended and it's back to Toremore Cottage for, now what did
we go there for? Oh yeah - drams. It was to be our last evening together in Scotland, and we were determined to make the most of it. Several of us had
brought whiskies but Craig had the farthest to travel home, and was determined not to have to take his samples back.
Serge, Johannes, Krishna and I scored it at 79 points, Craig at 78.
Nose: dry dustiness, sherried. Palate: sherry, woody bitterness, oily, slightly astringent, a bit meaty, oyster sauce.
I score it at 90 points, Johannes, Craig and Serge at 88, Krishna at 92.
Nose: sherried, dry. Palate: very sweet, then spicy, then hot then sweet spices like nutmeg followed by a bitter flash. Sulphur,
becomes astringent, nutty, lots of sherry, matches, peanut brittle. 82 points. Serge 90, Johannes and Craig 87, Krishna 92.
Nose: fudge, miso soup, mild esters, cream, vanilla, a bit of spirit, beeswax. Palate: hot, spicy, sweet, some bitterness, creamy, feels
like peppermint, condensed milk, sweet and syrupy. Craig, Serge, Krishna and I – 85 points, Johannes 76.
Krishna and I score at 92 points, Serge 91, Johannes 90, Craig 89.
Nose: woody; very bourbony, mild flowers, rose water, menthol, banana, fruit salad, Turkish delight.
Palate: banana. Krishna 91, Craig and I 90 points
, Serge 89, Johannes 84.
Nose: mildly peaty, smoky, lint, paper, dust, fresh rainwater, fruit acid.
Palate: a bit hot, watery, weak, licorice, sourness, nice hot finish.
Score at 76 points, Krishna 86, Serge 79, Craig 80, Johannes 78.
Nose: sour, hint of peat smoke, dust, dirt, sweat socks, orange peel, lemon.
Palate: lemony – sweet lemon pie, pepper and hot spice.
Score at 76 points, Krishna 80, Serge 79, Craig 74, Johannes 73.
Nose: grassy, malty, very mild, a fruitiness. Palate: sweet then very hot, more licorice, honey, becomes creamy, melon.
Score at 82 points, Serge 85, Johannes 83, Krishna 82, Craig 81.
Nose: peat smoke, bandages, antiseptic, mild nose tickle, sweet like ether.
Palate: sweet, dry, peat smoke, astringent, sweet like sweet licorice, rubber, salty licorice, rubber in the finish.
Serge and I 93 points, Johannes and Krishna 92, Craig 87.
Nose: smoked cheese, cattle barn, medicinal, antiseptic, bicycle tire. Seriously phenolic. Leather and spirit, sweet and sour.
Palate: sweet, licorice, gentle lemon, crispy bacon, salty licorice, cigar.
Serge, Krishna and I score at 94 points, Johannes 93, Craig 92.
Nose: sweet and peaty, peanuts, creamy, oily, sweet.
Palate: very hot and spicy. Medicinal. Krishna, Serge and I score at 89 points, Johannes 90, Craig 88.
We'd been in Scotland just short of week. Reading this report can you believe it? Tired, but euphoric we were done and the trip back to Glasgow was uneventful (except for "the incident" – see
Nose: leather, spice, fruit.
Palate: dried fruit, not too sweet, dry, mild licorice and peat.
Johannes, Krishna and I all score it at 84 points.
<<< - Back To MM#7
In the spring of 2003 five malt maniacs made their way
to the Lowlands and Highlands of Scotland. Three malt
maniacs have written reports about our experiences in
whisky land. We managed to squeeze
into MM#7
, but Davin's report was so huge that we had
to put it on a seperate page. Scroll down to read Davin's
full report, packed with anecdotes from our trip and all
kinds of technical details about the production methods
at all the distilleries we visited; Blair Athol, Edradour,
Benromach, Glenrothes, Glenfarclas and Aberlour.
E-pistle #07/10 - Scotland 2003 Pildrammage Report
by Davin de Kergommeaux, Canada
If you're interested in more pictures of our trip, check out Serge's website or Liquid Log Entry #140 .