Two-day tour to Speyside and Highland Distilleries with Whisky Trails

Two-day tour to Speyside and Highland Distilleries with Whisky Trails

Whether you are a whisky aficionado or a complete novice, this two day Whisky Trail is for you.

To start your Whisky Trail, you will be picked up at your location and driven to the Highlands.

On day one, you will visit three Speyside Distilleries and a Cooperage. To start with we suggest tastings at Glenfarclas and The Macallan Distilleries, lunch and a tasting at Glenfiddich and a tour at the Speyside Cooperage. You will stay overnight in a three star hotel on a B&B basis.

On day two, you'll visit three Highland Distilleries and the Dornoch Castle Whisky Bar. We are suggesting tastings at Glenmorangie, Balblair, and The Dalmore, and lunch and a tasting at The Dornoch Castle Whisky Bar where they have more than 450 bottles of whisky on sale!

At the end of day two, you will be returned to your starting point.

NOTES:
* Only your group will participate
* This is a private tour limited to a maximum of four people
* We have assumed a maximum of two bedrooms will be required overnight

Itinerary

Day 1: Three Speyside Distilleries and a Cooperage Visit

Stop At: Glenfarclas Distillery Ballindalloch, Ballindalloch AB37 9BD Scotland
Glenfarclas translates as valley of the green grass and is still owned and run by the Grant family. The six stills are amongst some of the largest on Speyside and unusually, are heated directly by gas burners. Tastings are taken in a beautifully decorated tasting room and unusually, are usually free of charge!
Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Glenfiddich Distillery Castle Road, Dufftown AB55 4DH Scotland
Glenfiddich is in the middle of an upgrade which will see production expanded to 20 million litres per year. This upgrade is the result of the continued rise in global demand for the single malt, with Glenfiddich now accounting for 50% of the total sales by volume for the company.
Glenfiddich is historically significant as they became the first to systematically promote a single market globally including through television advertising. This ensured that Glenfiddich became the best-selling single malt globally, a position it retains today.
Glenfiddich runs tours on the hour between 10:00 and 16:00. There are a number of different tours, the most popular of which is the Explorer Tour which costs £10 per person and lasts 90 minutes.

There is also a bar and restaurant which would be a good place for lunch however other options are available locally too such as The Mash Tun, and The Highlander Inn.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Stop At: Speyside Cooperage Visitor Centre, Dufftown Road, Craigellachie AB38 9RS Scotland
The whisky barrel is crucial when it comes to the complex flavours that the final result produces. Watch as the skilled coopers make or repair barrels and get a better understanding of what is involved in this ancient art. Admission costs £4 per person and tour takes around 60 minutes.
Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: The Macallan Distillery Experience, Easter Elchies Estate, Easter Elchies AB38 9RX Scotland
This distillery is like no other you have come across. It finally opened to the public in the summer of 2018 and initially caused traffic chaos with the police having to be called to restore calm. The distillery roof is shaped like five hills with meadow grass on the top.
One of these hills houses the new visitor centre complete with art gallery, and six different rooms that define the style of the Macallan single malt. A very impressive whisky wall showcases more than 400 bottles from the Macallan archive.
The Macallan Six Pillars Tour is the most popular tour offered, costing £15 and lasting around an hour. The Macallan Tours are usually booked up well in advance, however if it is not possible to do the tour, you can still wander around the impressive visitor centre and take in a whisky or two in their Linger Lounge.
Duration: 1 hour

No meals included on this day.
Accommodation included: Overnight accommodation on a B&B basis in a local three star hotel

Day 2: Three Highland Distilleries and lunch in a Whisky Bar

Stop At: Glenmorangie Distillery, on the A9 Ross-shire, IV19 1PZ Scotland
Now owned by Moët Hennesy, the Glenmorangie Distillery was founded in 1843 with production starting in 1849. Glenmorangie is famous the world over for its whisky with the first exports starting as long ago as 1880.
Moving with modern times, the Distillery installed an anaerobic digestion plant in 2017 to process and break down by products such as pot-ale and lees which in turn means the production process is more sustainable. This has removed the need for them to be taken away from the Distillery by tanker for processing elsewhere.
Tours and tastings are possible with the Original Tour costing £7.50 per person. It is possible to visit the tasting room without doing a tour. A range of Glenmorangie Single Malt Whiskies are available to purchase and try in the relaxed environment of the tasting room.
Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Dornoch Castle Whisky Bar & Grant MacNicol at the Castle Restaurant, Castle St, Dornoch IV25 3SD, UK
No whisky tour to the Highlands would be complete without visiting the Dornoch Castle Hotel's Whisky Bar. Home to one of the newest distilleries in Scotland, the Whisky Bar has an extensive collection of rare and unique malts which you are able to sample (for a fee of course). If the weather is fine, this can be taken in the garden, however if it's a little colder, the Castle Bar is a great alternative.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Stop At: Balblair Distillery, Edderton IV19 1LB Scotland
Founded in 1790, this is possilby one of my favourite distilleries, According to records, this is the fourth oldest distillery in Scotland after Glenturret, Strathisla, and Bowmore,
Balblair creates its malt whisky slowly, and it is then matured at the distillery in the tradtional dunnage warehouses on earthen floors. The visitors centre provides a welcoming, relaxed environment in which to enjoy a tasting. Tours are available at 11:00 and 14:00 costing £10 per person, and as a maximum of ten people are accommodated per tour, advance bookings are essential.
Visitors to the distillery can purchase a bottle from a hand selected cask which you are able to fill, cork, seal, and label yourself. Your name will then go into the ledger and you’ll have a unique gift to take home with you.
Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: The Dalmore Distillery, Alness IV17 0UT Scotland
Dalmore was one of the first single malts to be exported to all corners of the world. For a period of time through the 60s to the early '00s, it was used as part of a blended whisky. It was then transformed once again, into a prestige single malt whisky.
At present, you can taste up to 11 single malts from their core and travel range at £5 per dram, irrespective of the RRP of the bottle. This represents great value as they can retail at up to £175 per bottle!
Duration: 1 hour

No meals included on this day.
No accommodation included on this day.