Thanks for sharing the visit. I am a new subscriber and I appreciate your style. It’s good to see some people are able to get out and enjoy themselves .Keep up the good work.
In 2017 we visited Scotland with two other couples. We were at a B&B in Nairn and we booked a local guide, David for the day. We visited Glen Grant, Glen Farklas, and Glen Moray. I hope you had your tasting in the beautiful room at Glen Farklas. Thank you for your post, you brought back great memories.
Hi Ronald! Thanks for sharing and I'm glad my video stirred great memories. Your tour sounds delightful. We did get to enjoy the beautiful tasting room at Glenfarclas, unfortunately they couldn't book a full tour for us so we only tasted two drams. Getting to see all photos of the history in that distillery and look at their family bottles was great. Glen Grant was an enjoyable tour and tasting as well. Cheers!
Glenfarclas has a very nice distillery and visitor area, but I didn't find any tour offerings - only tastings. It was great to see all the history of their expressions. Maybe if I had more time, I could have scheduled a proper tour.
My dream trip. So I am a huge Alabama fan and alum. It is a tradition to have a cigar and a whiskey after the game. Tonight, I had two fingers of Stranahan Colorado peated blue label. Then Weller Reserve. Finally, Ardbeg 10. Cigar was a Arturo Fuentes. Then Braves won. It’s a good night.
Great video. What a great trip that must of been. Would love a deep dive into any of the distilleries, macallan especially. That new building looks fascinating
Awesome video, great trip! I am not a Macallan fan, but the experience sounds so interesting and the food delicious I hope you do a longer video about it. Cheers!
To be honest, I rarely buy Macallan Scotch. It's just so overpriced for my tastes. I walked out of that distillery with zero bottles. I didn't record more of the tour because the Macallan guide asked me not to, but there's a lot more information about that distillery that I'd love to share. Cheers!
Hi Philippe! We took a Rabbies Tour of the Highlands (www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-tours/from-edinburgh/2-4-day-tours/speyside-whisky-trail-3-day-tour) and our driver was Grant James Burns. The two B&Bs we stayed in were firhall.com in Grantown on Spey and the Bankhouse B&B in Aberlour. Firhall was amazing. The Macallan Mastery Experience was quite expensive, but worth it for the food and the detailed tour. There are less expensive alternatives. The other distilleries tour packages have changed a bit and you'll need to review them. Let me know if I can help more. Enjoy your trip!
Incredible Kevin! I want to copy it haha. Our honeymoon was similar. Delayed 18 months but when we got there we basically had the whole place go ourself which led to a special time. I wish more people could have experienced the awes with us, but it was special getting all their attention and special treatment.
Congrats on your happy nuptials, Alec! We went to the UK in October because one of my friends was getting married. They also had to delay about 18 months. Cheers!
@@WhiskyRiffs both! It's a week long tour with Disney that includes a distillery tour. We plan to stay longer and visit three or four others in the Speyside area. Any insight on a whisky train in the Dufftown? I think I saw it in a three part Scotch documentary aired on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
@@dennisrudloff2071 I haven't experienced the whisky train in Dufftown, so I can't give you any insights. That sounds like a great trip you have planned. Enjoy it!
Thanks so much! UA-cam has finally started recommending my videos to people. There is a nice growth curve going on now and everyone who likes and shares my content helps. Cheers!
Looks like a fantastic trip Kevin, that video I’m hoping is just a teaser for some more in depth videos on the many distilleries. Like a lot of others I’d love to see some more on the Macallan tour but I’d also like to find out which one was your favourite and why…
Hi, Keith! Yes, it was a great trip. I'll try to circle back and talk more about each in the new year. My Whisky Advent Calendar series starts on Dec. 1, 2021 and that's kept me a bit busy. ;) Cheers!
Great info. If you had to rate your top experiences in Speyside what would be your top three? We celebrated the husbands 50th in Islay last February and it was incredible!
Hi, Thea. I would definitely suggests using a Rabbie's Tour, but if you can't do that, I'd suggest visiting the Speyside Cooperage as a top destination. Seeing the craftspeople repair and rebuild casks is cool. The Macallan Distillery Dinner was amazing, but pretty pricey. I'd still recommend it, if the cost isn't out of line. The tour I enjoyed the blind tasting at Aberlour and would have enjoyed it more if they hadn't had their distillery tours closed for construction. Cardhu was a lovely distillery with an informative host for our tasting. Glenfiddich was similar, with a good set of pours for tasting and an informative tour. Cheers and happy belated 50th to your husband!
@@WhiskyRiffs Thank you for the insight. We are taking my 70+ parents to Scotland September 2023 so doing our research. We are actually heading to Italy this October....you mentioned Italy in the Vlog. Did you make another Vlog about Italy? Anyway we both enjoy your site.
@@alldayeveryday70 You're welcome and thanks for asking about Italy. My wife, Judy, and I have another UA-cam channel called Finding Gina Marie (findingGinaMarie.com). It's about our journey to move to Italy and also the story of Judy finding her birth mother and family after being apart for 55 years. We just finished recording an episode about visiting 6 cities in Northern Italy, which will be out in two weeks. If you have any questions about Italy, we'd love to answer them over on that channel. Cheers!
Hi Kevin, I am planning a trip to Speyside for next yearm this summer we went to Islay and rented a car, now I am considering us taking a tour instead, I am on the fence of including Macallan or not, I've been looking at Rabbies, can you customize the tour to include the distilleries you want to go to? Slàinte!
We also used Rabbies for our Islay tour a few years back and it was great as well. I enjoy having a guide/driver so both my wife and I can enjoy a few drams. As for visiting Macallan on the Speyside tour, I wouldn't recommend it unless you just love their expressions. I wanted to see their new distillery, but after being there, it felt more like an architectural tour than a distiller tour. I used to be a bigger Macallan fan, but they have overpriced most of their bottles and lost me as a promoter. Rabbies doesn't include Macallan and their tours are round-trip. That makes it hard to add more stops. We got lucky and had the tour bus to ourselves, so our guide let us adjust the list. I doubt that's going to happen now that travel is back in full swing. I hope this helps, but please ask follow-up questions if not. Slàinte mhath!
My Wife and I are planning a trip to Scotland later this year, will be renting a car and visit a few distilleries. You mentioned that drivers were not able to partake in the tastings, would only one of us be able to taste, while the other drives? Did you have a driver to Macallan for your tasting?
Hi Robert. You do need to exclude the driver from the tastings. My wife and I stayed at the Bankhouse B & B in Aberlour and walked to the Aberlour Distillery. The next day we took a taxi to Macallan, because it was a longer walk from our B & B. Unfortunately, there was festival going on at the time and we couldn't get a taxi back. Luckily, the B & B owner's daughter worked at Macallan and her dad picked us up. I'm excited about your tour, let me know what you got to try after you get back. Cheers!
Great video. I would like to take a group tour myself. I'm a solo traveler and I'm looking for an affordable tour. I tried once before but the pandemic canceled it. I wound up going on a different trip alone, which convinced me I want to travel with a group. Any suggestions?
I think the Rabbies Islay tour is even better. It’s a legit 4 day tour and the Speyside one is only 3. I highly recommend it. Ask if you can get Grant as your driver if you go. Cheers!
It wasn’t cheap. We paid around the price it is now at £250 per person, but I think we used Sapphire Reserve points to pay for it. Here’s the link: www.themacallan.com/en/distillery/book-experiences.
You need to relabel your video as most of these distilleries are NOT Speyside scotches. You have a bottle of Glenmorangie in front of you that says, Highland Single Malt Scotch. Wtf, dude.
Most are not Speyside? That's seems incorrect to say. Besides, my description states "This is my Highland Distillery Tours overview episode focusing on they Speyside region of Scotland." Lindores Abbey and Dalwhinnie were on our way into the Speyside region and the bottle in front of me just happened to be a Highland Scotch I wanted to drink during this video. The title still matches the tour name "Speyside Distillery Tour" that we booked and the main focus is of that region.
Fantastic share. What a privilege to tour all these places. Cheers
Thanks. We’re so glad the world opened up enough to allow this to happen. Cheers!
Thanks for sharing the visit. I am a new subscriber and I appreciate your style. It’s good to see some people are able to get out and enjoy themselves .Keep up the good work.
Thanks for watching! It felt great to travel again. Cheers!
In 2017 we visited Scotland with two other couples. We were at a B&B in Nairn and we booked a local guide, David for the day. We visited Glen Grant, Glen Farklas, and Glen Moray. I hope you had your tasting in the beautiful room at Glen Farklas. Thank you for your post, you brought back great memories.
Hi Ronald! Thanks for sharing and I'm glad my video stirred great memories. Your tour sounds delightful. We did get to enjoy the beautiful tasting room at Glenfarclas, unfortunately they couldn't book a full tour for us so we only tasted two drams. Getting to see all photos of the history in that distillery and look at their family bottles was great. Glen Grant was an enjoyable tour and tasting as well. Cheers!
Thanks and very interesting. I'd love to hear more about the Glenfarclas Distillery please?
Regards,
P.
Glenfarclas has a very nice distillery and visitor area, but I didn't find any tour offerings - only tastings. It was great to see all the history of their expressions. Maybe if I had more time, I could have scheduled a proper tour.
My dream trip. So I am a huge Alabama fan and alum. It is a tradition to have a cigar and a whiskey after the game. Tonight, I had two fingers of Stranahan Colorado peated blue label. Then Weller Reserve. Finally, Ardbeg 10. Cigar was a Arturo Fuentes. Then Braves won. It’s a good night.
After the Tennessee game.
Sounds like a great night. Cheers!
Great video. What a great trip that must of been. Would love a deep dive into any of the distilleries, macallan especially. That new building looks fascinating
I'm glad you enjoyed it. The new Macallan distillery is quite amazing. I'll plan on some more follow-up videos. Cheers!
Yeah Macallan!
Awesome video, great trip! I am not a Macallan fan, but the experience sounds so interesting and the food delicious I hope you do a longer video about it. Cheers!
To be honest, I rarely buy Macallan Scotch. It's just so overpriced for my tastes. I walked out of that distillery with zero bottles. I didn't record more of the tour because the Macallan guide asked me not to, but there's a lot more information about that distillery that I'd love to share. Cheers!
@@WhiskyRiffs I totally agree with you, I have never gone thru the Macallan rabbit hold, although I'd say I'm a big Ardbeg fan hehe
If you're an Ardbeg fan, you're in luck. You'll see a lot of that whisky on this channel. 😄
I did a tour of Glen Moray distillery in Elgin in 2023, love it . A very good whisky 🥃 i highly recommend it.
I have enjoyed the Glen Moray expressions I've tried. Cheers!
Great video! Please go into details of the driver, lodge, the Glenfiddich and Macallan visits, please. We are going to Edinburg on April 6th, 2023! 🇧🇷
Hi Philippe! We took a Rabbies Tour of the Highlands (www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-tours/from-edinburgh/2-4-day-tours/speyside-whisky-trail-3-day-tour) and our driver was Grant James Burns. The two B&Bs we stayed in were firhall.com in Grantown on Spey and the Bankhouse B&B in Aberlour. Firhall was amazing. The Macallan Mastery Experience was quite expensive, but worth it for the food and the detailed tour. There are less expensive alternatives. The other distilleries tour packages have changed a bit and you'll need to review them. Let me know if I can help more. Enjoy your trip!
Sounds like a great trip. Hope you tipped Grant well. lol. Would like to hear more about the fancy tour at Macallan
Grant got a great tip. 😂 I’ll talk about Macallan more, thanks for asking!
@@WhiskyRiffs Second this - would be great to hear more about the Macallan tour and what whisky/wines you got to try
The last thing I expected at a whisky distillery was a wine pairing. Macallan knows how to impress. Cheers!
Would love to hear more about macallan.
Thanks for the feedback! There seems to be demand for this, so I need to do a focused episode. Macallan has a beautifully designed distillery. Cheers!
What a cool trip! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Ben! It really was great, if not a little tricky when we had to work around some pandemic restrictions. Cheers!
Incredible Kevin! I want to copy it haha. Our honeymoon was similar. Delayed 18 months but when we got there we basically had the whole place go ourself which led to a special time. I wish more people could have experienced the awes with us, but it was special getting all their attention and special treatment.
Congrats on your happy nuptials, Alec! We went to the UK in October because one of my friends was getting married. They also had to delay about 18 months. Cheers!
I agree, winters gold is too muted if kept in the freezer, I keep mine in the fridge as I find it a bit too angry at room temp.
It's hard for me to drink chilled whisky because I'm usually trying to find every flavor and the cold makes that task harder. Cheers!
Cheers! My wife and I just took the Rabbies tour of Islay. It was amazing! Rabbies was the best!
That's cool! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. We'd had the best experiences with Rabbies. Cheers!
@@WhiskyRiffs we're thinking of doing the Speyside tour next so your video was perfect.
There are so many great Speyside distilleries. I hope you get to enjoy a tour. Cheers!
New to your channel... headed to Scotland Sept 2022... thanks for the insight.
Welcome, Dennis! Are you visiting any distilleries or just enjoying one of the lovely cities or castles in Scotland?
@@WhiskyRiffs both! It's a week long tour with Disney that includes a distillery tour. We plan to stay longer and visit three or four others in the Speyside area. Any insight on a whisky train in the Dufftown? I think I saw it in a three part Scotch documentary aired on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
@@dennisrudloff2071 I haven't experienced the whisky train in Dufftown, so I can't give you any insights. That sounds like a great trip you have planned. Enjoy it!
Amazing content! Can't believe this channel's not getting more viewers😓
Thanks so much! UA-cam has finally started recommending my videos to people. There is a nice growth curve going on now and everyone who likes and shares my content helps. Cheers!
Looks like a fantastic trip Kevin, that video I’m hoping is just a teaser for some more in depth videos on the many distilleries. Like a lot of others I’d love to see some more on the Macallan tour but I’d also like to find out which one was your favourite and why…
Hi, Keith! Yes, it was a great trip. I'll try to circle back and talk more about each in the new year. My Whisky Advent Calendar series starts on Dec. 1, 2021 and that's kept me a bit busy. ;) Cheers!
Sounds good to me!
Have you been on many distillery tours?
WOW! Very jealous!
Thanks, Jay!
Thank you for your informational video. What is the name of the tour company that toured you around the distilleries that day in speyside
We used Rabbie's Tours for both our Islay and Speyside tours: www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-tours. Cheers!
Great info. If you had to rate your top experiences in Speyside what would be your top three? We celebrated the husbands 50th in Islay last February and it was incredible!
Hi, Thea. I would definitely suggests using a Rabbie's Tour, but if you can't do that, I'd suggest visiting the Speyside Cooperage as a top destination. Seeing the craftspeople repair and rebuild casks is cool. The Macallan Distillery Dinner was amazing, but pretty pricey. I'd still recommend it, if the cost isn't out of line. The tour I enjoyed the blind tasting at Aberlour and would have enjoyed it more if they hadn't had their distillery tours closed for construction.
Cardhu was a lovely distillery with an informative host for our tasting. Glenfiddich was similar, with a good set of pours for tasting and an informative tour. Cheers and happy belated 50th to your husband!
@@WhiskyRiffs Thank you for the insight. We are taking my 70+ parents to Scotland September 2023 so doing our research. We are actually heading to Italy this October....you mentioned Italy in the Vlog. Did you make another Vlog about Italy? Anyway we both enjoy your site.
@@alldayeveryday70 You're welcome and thanks for asking about Italy. My wife, Judy, and I have another UA-cam channel called Finding Gina Marie (findingGinaMarie.com). It's about our journey to move to Italy and also the story of Judy finding her birth mother and family after being apart for 55 years. We just finished recording an episode about visiting 6 cities in Northern Italy, which will be out in two weeks. If you have any questions about Italy, we'd love to answer them over on that channel. Cheers!
@@WhiskyRiffs Thank you for the link. Just started watching.
Thank you also for subscribing to Finding Gina Marie, Thea! ❤️
Hi Kevin, I am planning a trip to Speyside for next yearm this summer we went to Islay and rented a car, now I am considering us taking a tour instead, I am on the fence of including Macallan or not, I've been looking at Rabbies, can you customize the tour to include the distilleries you want to go to? Slàinte!
We also used Rabbies for our Islay tour a few years back and it was great as well. I enjoy having a guide/driver so both my wife and I can enjoy a few drams.
As for visiting Macallan on the Speyside tour, I wouldn't recommend it unless you just love their expressions. I wanted to see their new distillery, but after being there, it felt more like an architectural tour than a distiller tour. I used to be a bigger Macallan fan, but they have overpriced most of their bottles and lost me as a promoter.
Rabbies doesn't include Macallan and their tours are round-trip. That makes it hard to add more stops. We got lucky and had the tour bus to ourselves, so our guide let us adjust the list. I doubt that's going to happen now that travel is back in full swing. I hope this helps, but please ask follow-up questions if not. Slàinte mhath!
My Wife and I are planning a trip to Scotland later this year, will be renting a car and visit a few distilleries. You mentioned that drivers were not able to partake in the tastings, would only one of us be able to taste, while the other drives? Did you have a driver to Macallan for your tasting?
Hi Robert. You do need to exclude the driver from the tastings. My wife and I stayed at the Bankhouse B & B in Aberlour and walked to the Aberlour Distillery. The next day we took a taxi to Macallan, because it was a longer walk from our B & B. Unfortunately, there was festival going on at the time and we couldn't get a taxi back. Luckily, the B & B owner's daughter worked at Macallan and her dad picked us up. I'm excited about your tour, let me know what you got to try after you get back. Cheers!
Great video. I would like to take a group tour myself. I'm a solo traveler and I'm looking for an affordable tour. I tried once before but the pandemic canceled it. I wound up going on a different trip alone, which convinced me I want to travel with a group. Any suggestions?
I recommend Rabbie's Tours: www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-tours. Cheers!
J’aimerais visiter la région quelle période est le mieux pour en profiter de la saison et visiter les caves?
I'm not sure when the best time is to visit, but it is Scotland so winters can be very cold and springtime can be quite wet along with being cold.
One day I'm gonna hire a sober driver and circle the Islay 🤣 Great trip, too bad it was only 4 days😄
I think the Rabbies Islay tour is even better. It’s a legit 4 day tour and the Speyside one is only 3. I highly recommend it. Ask if you can get Grant as your driver if you go. Cheers!
What was the cost of the Macallan visit?
It wasn’t cheap. We paid around the price it is now at £250 per person, but I think we used Sapphire Reserve points to pay for it. Here’s the link: www.themacallan.com/en/distillery/book-experiences.
You need to relabel your video as most of these distilleries are NOT Speyside scotches.
You have a bottle of Glenmorangie in front of you that says, Highland Single Malt Scotch.
Wtf, dude.
Most are not Speyside? That's seems incorrect to say. Besides, my description states "This is my Highland Distillery Tours overview episode focusing on they Speyside region of Scotland."
Lindores Abbey and Dalwhinnie were on our way into the Speyside region and the bottle in front of me just happened to be a Highland Scotch I wanted to drink during this video. The title still matches the tour name "Speyside Distillery Tour" that we booked and the main focus is of that region.