Coxen Travels Ink ... Scotland 2014

Coxen Travels Ink .... Scotland

Scotch

Aberlour – A’Bunadh – 5

Balvenie – DoubleWood 17 – 5

Balvenie – PortWood 21 – 5+

BenRiach – Limited 1996 Release – 5-

BenRiach – Pedro Ximenez Sherry – 5

BenRiach – Septendecim – 2

Cardhu 15 – 4

Dalwhinnie 15 – 4-

GlenDronach – Parliament 21 - 4

Glenglassaugh – Revival – 4

Glenglassaugh – Torfa – 2

Glenglassaugh – Evolution – 3-

Glenlossie –3

Gordon McPhail – Caol Ila 2003 - 3

Lagavulin – Double Mature - 3

Linkwood – 3

Longrow – Red 11 - 5

Mannochmore – 4

Inchgower – 3

Strathmill – 2

Dailuaine - 4

Kilchoman – 1

Monkey’s Shoulder – 3

Oban – Distilers Edition – 4+

Beer

Cairngorm – Trade Winds – 4+

Guinness – West Indies Port – 3+

Houston – The Brute – 3

McEwan’s - 4

Rhymney – Export – 4+

Shepards Neame – Burns Ale - 3

The Orkney Brewery – 1878 Strong Ale - 3

Wellpark Brewery – Caledonia Best – 4

Strathrear – Best Bitter – 3+

Tennents – 3

Wharfe Bank Brewery – Ryestone Cowboy - 4

Windswept Brewing Co. - Windswept APA - 2

November 14 - 23

Friday – We drove to Gretna Green from Devizes.  Gretna Green was known as the place for eloping couples to go to get married.  You see in England you had to go through the process of posting banns for three weeks, etc.  In Scotland you just had to find a blacksmith and you could get married.  Saturday – we continued on our way to Aberlour.  North of Stirling we decided to take the tourist road to Pitlochry.  It was narrow, winding and beautiful. 

Hillsides on the Pitlochry Tourist Road

A stream on the Pitlochry Tourist Road

Wade's Bridge over the River Tay in Aberfeldy

The hills and streams we picturesque …. wow!  For the last leg we took the motorway and the fog moved in.  We arrived at Bogearn Cottage

Bogearn Cottage our Scottish home for a week.

View from the cottage

just outside Aberlour.  On the way we saw at least 12 distilleries!  Sunday – We were all tired so we had a slow start to the day.  Elgin is the big community in our immediate area so off we went.  We found groceries and saw yet more distilleries as well as we wandered downtown Elgin and toured the ruins of the Elgin Cathedral.

Elgin Cathedral

Monday – We decided to go and visit Banff today.  On our way we stopped at the Aberlour Distillery.  We discovered a great single malt there.  We then moved on to Walkers as they make shortbread right here in Aberlour.  What a GREAT stop!  Then it was off to Banff!  The weather was the pits, rain and wind, but Banff, Banffshire, Scotland had a real charm. 

Banff moored boat

Banff marina

We had a good time and then decided to drive back along the coast.  A really interesting town was Portsoy.  It has a 17^th century harbour that was very cool. 

Portsoy harbour moored, grounded (low tide) boat.

Further along the way we came across the Glenglassaugh distillery.  They have a good selection of scotch, but none made our must buy list.  We had heard that there was a great scotch pub in Craigellachie.  The rumour was true!  They will give you a flight of 6 different scotch’s to try.  We did it and it was great!  We met a Brazilian couple doing the same thing and it is strange that with a little help from ‘The Water of Life’ we had a great evening.  Tuesday – Today we decided to pursue Scotch in a bigger way.  We headed first to the BenRiach distillery where we were first treated to a tour and then a tasting.  Then we drove to Elgin once again, but this time we were heading to the Gordon McFail whiskey shop.  Our noses led us straight there.  It has a fabulous collection of scotches, etc. all the way from a bottle from $40 to $32,000.  We had heard of another vendor in town called the Buccaneer Garage.  We found it as well and learned that they have great prices but a limited selection, but they did have a Buccaneer jet sitting out front! 

Buccaneer at the Buccaneer Garage in Elgin.

We then decided to go to Dufftown as they were reputed to have a good store as well.  They were not a disappointment. 

Warehouses full of scotch in Dufftown!

We then went in search of the Balvenie Distillery.  After much frustration we learned they were connected with Glenfidich, it was easy to find.  In the Glenfiddich visitor centre we were able to try Balvenie DoubleWood 17 and Balvenie PortWood 21.  They were both delicious!  Wednesday – We were off to Inverness.  We stopped first at the Culloden battlefield.  The museum is good and the battlefield tour guide was even better. 

Cairn on the Culloden battlefield.

We then headed into Inverness.  We wandered downtown for a while and were completely nonplussed about the community.  We headed home on a different route that the one we took to get there.  Once again we passed by a multitude of distilleries.  We are definitely in the heart of Scotch distillery country.  From our year we can see not less than four distilleries and in the area within a 30 minute drive there must be at least 30 distilleries.  Thursday - Today we had a low travel day, but perhaps one of the best we have had so far.  We started out by going to the Speyside Cooperage in Craigellachie.  

Repaired barrels

It was a great tour and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We were able to watch the production floor and as and amateur carpenter it was great. 

Speyside Cooperage production floor.

The tour finished with a Mead tasting!  We then headed to Aberlour to visit the Aberlour distillery.  The tour guide was fabulous both experienced and informed. 

Stills at the Aberlour distillery.

We tried six different scotches and then I was able to bottle my own! 

Doing my own bottling!

It was an Aberlour 16 done completely in a sherry cask.  Friday – We had reserved today for Aberdeen.  Passing through Craigellachie and saw this GREAT pile of barrels.

Yard full of barrels in Craigellachie.

We were not disappointed,  Aberdeen is a thriving city that we really enjoyed.  We visited Marischal College (a magnificent granite building)

Marischal College 

and FootDee (a medieval village).

FootDee an inhabited medieval village in Aberdeen.

We came home via Craigellachie and visited out favourite Scotch Bar again.  Once again we tried a few whiskeys only this time we did not do a flight, but rather tried other whiskeys in the range of our favourites.  We were not disappointed!  The selection is huge and we found new scotches that were GREAT!  Saturday – Sadly it is time to start the journey to the airport in Manchester.  We have had a great experience over the past 4 months, but we are excited to head home.  We started south with the idea of going through Ballater (Balmoral Castle is right there) and visiting the Royal Lochnagar distillery.  On the way we saw some amazing country, the highlands!  We saw highland cattle

Highland Cattle.

and some other amazing bridges. 

Seems impossible that this bridge can exist.

But the highlands were what really impressed us!  We spent the night once again at Gretna Green, but we decided to go explore Carlisle and were favourably impressed.