Glenlivet Distillery

 Our first whisky tour and tasting was really rather fun. Glenlivet is a famous distillery. In the lawless early 1700s no-one could afford the very high license fees, so home brew and smuggling were the norm. However when the fees were lowered, one man braved the ire of his neighbours and bought a license, and never looked back.

What was really interesting was the huge fermenting chambers, where 55,000 gallons of malted barley was heated. Malting is really just saturating the barley. It smelled very malty and quite nice. The steam is collected and condensed in one pipes to be ‘distilled’ as whisky. Since the only grain used is barley, it is called single malt. I would never drink anything else!

The tasting room was thoughtful theatre, where some of us smelled, and twirled and sipped our tiny tasting samples. I decanted mine into tiny bottles (can’t say wee here) to bring home.

Fun fact. In Scotland, whisky is always aged in casks that have been already used with a different drink, like rum or cognac. In USA they always use freshly made casks or barrels. We got to smell the impact of different barrels.

I did not make the distillery tour on Skye due to having gastro - probably the egg on my sandwich at Eilean Donan Castle - but it is a MacRae stronghold. I know it was a mistake. However a rest day in my lovely apartment was in order and well used.