Trekking with the Tucci's

This past weekend we travelled into Whisky Country and the Highlands with Erika and Pat Tucci who are visiting us all the way from Washington State. Our initial plan was for it to be a whisky tasting weekend, but plans changed the second day when we were thwarted by snow! Our first day began bright and early with a distillery tour at Glen Moray (we learned it’s pronounced “murry” like “curry”). Since we had been there several times before, we had the pleasure of receiving a distillery tour hosted by the Manager. The tour was phenomenal. The four of us learned even more intricacies of whisky making and were able to enjoy several wee drams, including some reserve bottles! Erika even had the honor of helping the manager open two bottles for our tasting which totaled over 300GBP or $450! Definitely the most expensive whisky any of us had ever sampled. After spending 3 hours there, we moved on to Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Macallan for a few more wee drams. That evening we stayed at one of our favorite B&B’s - The Craighurst. To cap a fantastic evening of whisky tasting and to truly become Scottish, we ended the night by trying some traditional Haggis Bites. Needless to say, we have now had haggis once and will probably never have it again….

The original plan for Saturday was to head to two more distilleries a bit further in the Highlands. However it was snowing when we woke up! About 2 hours into our drive, we found ourselves on a Highland road that was closed due to the snow (our car almost got stuck in the ice/snow when we were trying to turn around). Since we were unable to make it across the mountain to the next distillery we decided to take an extended day trip through Fort Augustus, around Loch Ness, Inverness and then back to Aberlour. The drive was absolutely beautiful with the snow through the highlands, but the weather was quite unpredictable. We had everything from sun, hail, snow, wind, below freezing temps, and then more sun, which was a bit much for Erik who forgot to bring a jacket on this trip!! Despite Marin finding out that car sickness isn’t something that you grow out of, the day was fantastic and picturesque. We covered over 300 miles and were even stopped by a Shepherd on one road to allow a flock of sheep to cross!

Saturday evening was spent at The Mash Tun. This B&B had a restaurant and Whisky Bar attached, so we were able to relax with a fantastic meal and a few more drams. On Sunday morning we woke up, had a traditional Scottish Breakfast (baked beans and all), and headed back to Aberdeen. We spent the afternoon watching some Gavin and Stacy then had dinner accompanied with some 2005 Witness Tree that the Tucci’s graciously brought to share.