"Wee Drams" of the Scotland Malt Whisky Trail

Among castles and the beautiful highlands, Scotland is also known for its Scotch Single Malt Whisky. Approximately 1.5 hours northwest of Aberdeen begins the infamous Malt Whisky Trail. In order to better understand the Scottish culture, we felt it was imperative that we get out and explore the many distilleries essentially in our own backyard. We began our adventure at Glen Moray in Elgin. Our tour guide, Lynda, was phenomenal and incredibly knowledgeable on all aspects of whisky making. After having a few wee drams of the final product, we returned to Craighurst B&B to get a good night rest before visiting several more distilleries the following day. During the next 24 hours we visited: Glen Grant, Glenfarclas, Glenfiddich, Aberlour and Strathisla distilleries (Chivas Regal is made from 80% Strathisla single malt...for any of you connoisseurs out there). We only went on guided tours of Glen Grant and Glenfiddich the second day but were able to use our taste buds at the other distilleries as well to discern the differences of the other wee drams of whisky! All three tours were interesting in their own right; however we felt the Glen Moray tour was by far the best. Here are a few of the fun facts we learned on our adventure of Scotland’s Malt Whisky Trail…

• Scotch can only be a product of Scotland (even if it is produced the same way in a different country)


• There is a difference between “Whisky” and “WhiskEy”


• The flavors in the whisky differ depending on the shape and height of the stills


• Most distilleries buy their bourbon casks from Jack Daniels


• Adding water to your scotch will make the alcohol flavor less, but the aromatics more intense


• A proper scotch is never to be mixed with soda or served on ice; in fact, ice actually diminishes the flavor of the scotch


• Peat is used in the malting process to make a whisky smoky - a traditional practice for whisky distilleries on the west coast, however not in the central highlands where we toured.


• Scotland cows are fed the malt barley byproduct from the local distilleries….hmmm


• A distillery can be spotted from steam stacks, a cider aroma in the air and the distinctive black mold that lives off the "angels share" of the whisky that is evaporating within the warehouse - approximately 2% per cask per year.

• Never complain about it raining in Scotland because it will be whisky in 10+ years!!

Tasting a wee dram at Strathisla

Another wee dram at Glen Moray

Cheers!

Marin and Erik