This year the DrivenByDrams gang paid a visit to Speyside, for me it was my first time that far north in Scotland.
We'd picked four 'warehouse tastings' and a number of distillery visits to fill our time!
As with all distillery visits planning is key: accommodation and transport being at the top of the list. We'd decided on the key tours we wanted to do and then tried to find some accommodation in a central location and taxis to get us around.
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The main visits were to Benromach (top left) and Dunphail (middle left) on our first full day and Balvenie and Glenfiddich (two close together bottom right). Our plan was to get a taxi to take to Benromach, on to Dunphail and back to our accommodation in Parkmore (bottom right) on the first day and then walk to Balvenie and Glenfiddich on the second.
We'd managed to book a huge farmhouse in Parkmore for the week - 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, real fires - fantastic!
Trying to organise a taxi was more problematic - we tried 4 or 5 different taxi and tour companies but most either weren't interested or quoted too much. We ended up paying £280 for the Parkmore, Benromach, Dunphail, Parkmore round trip...
Day 1 was a 300 mile trip up from Southport for 4 or us and a 900 mile trip for Mark from Germany!
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| Photo: John |
The weather wasn't kind - Yellow Warning had been issued...
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On the way up we spotted our first distillery of the trip, a quick visit to Tullibardine to meet the wonderful Ros and purchase a bottle of the Distillery Exclusive and a branded Glencairn!
Distillery Exclusive: Distillery Edition No.7 : Châteauneuf-du-Pape £95
We'd arranged to meet Mark at Pitlochry for a quick visit to Blair Athol and the whisky shops in the town. As we pulled up in the distillery car park the rain had eased a little - Mark had been there a little while but it was great to meet up again for the first time since Islay last year!
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| Me, John, Mark, Andy & Max |
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We also paid a visit to Roberton's where a couple of drams were sampled and Drinkmonger (The Whisky Shop) where a bottle of Red Cask Blair Athol PX was purchased!
Then it was off up the A9 and A95 to Speyside...
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| First stop was the beautiful Dalwhinnie Distillery... |
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| ...with it's magnificent worm tubs... |
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| ...and expensive BYO. |
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| The Cairn Distillery |
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| Tormore Distillery |
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| Ballindalloch Distillery |
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| Glenfarclas Distillery |
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| Aberlour Distillery |
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| Speyside Cooperage |
Before we arrived in Dufftown...
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After quickly unpacking we made a 'pilgrimage' to the beach under Craigellachie Bridge for a shared dram
And then off to the Highland Inn for some food!
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