Glengoyne Whisky Bus

[William]

Visitors to Glasgow looking to get a real taste of the Highlands need look no further than the entrance of their hotel lobby, with the introduction of Scotland's first ever Whisky Bus.

Offering a daily door-to-door service from six of Glasgow's largest hotels and George Square, tourists will enjoy a unique whisky-themed experience en-route to the Glengoyne Distillery, Scotland's most beautiful distillery, located just 14 miles away in the heart of The Trossachs.

An onboard Glengoyne Whisky Expert will host each journey, bringing the distillery to life with interesting and exciting stories from the distillery's 175-year past, from Rob Roy to whisky smuggling. Using scientifically approved kit from the Malt Whisky Research Institute at Herriot Watt University, a daily nosing competition will also take place. The "Best Nose' each day will be entered into a draw to win a once in a lifetime opportunity on the Glengoyne Selection Panel and be responsible for choosing one of the Limited Edition Single Malts that will be launched in 2009.

Stuart Hendry, Brand Heritage Manager for Glengoyne commented: "With the rising popularity in internet holiday planning over the past few years, there has been a growing trend towards independent travel. This has resulted in more visitors than ever before arriving by car. This new trend, combined with increasing international awareness of drink driving, proved a peculiar problem for the distillery and one that The Whisky Bus solves perfectly.

As well as promoting a strong message against drink driving, the Whisky Bus will also save hundreds of litres of Glengoyne Single Malt Whisky from going down the sink each year.

Stuart Hendry explained: "As you would expect, all of the Glengoyne whisky tours include at least one free dram for our visitors to sample. We've found that on average, 25% of our 40,000 visitors per year are designated drivers and were therefore only nosing their Malt and leaving the glass un-drunk. This means that a whopping 10,000 drams or 400 bottles of Glengoyne were going down the plughole each year!"?

As well as appealing to tourists, it is hoped that locals and whisky loving day-trippers will take advantage of the daily Whisky Bus pick-ups to visit the distillery and sample Glengoyne's amber nectar. The Whisky Bus and tour can also be arranged for private use for large groups.

A ticket on the Whisky Bus costs £18.50 and includes transport from one of seven collection points in Glasgow and a tour of the distillery, washed down with a couple of drams of the award-winning Glengoyne 10 and 17 Year Old Single Highland Malts. Tickets can be bought by calling 0800 0141 495 or visiting www.thewhiskybus.co.uk.

The introduction of the Glengoyne Whisky Bus follows the results of a survey published last week by ScotlandWhisky, which found that the numbers of visitors to Scottish distilleries 2007 reached 1,233,696, spending over £22.4 million in distillery attractions across Scotland.

William

[William]

Whisky Bus Hotel Pick-up Points & Times

If your a guest at any off the hotels bellow please ask your Hotel Concerige to reserve a place on the coach we will collect you between the times listed bellow please note that owing to congestion please allow a 15 Min window on the times listed.

We depart daily from the hotels listed bellow & Tourist Information Point George Square

Tourist Information Centre 11 George Squre 14.10 - 14.20

Hilton Hotel William Street Glasgow 14.30

Marriott Hotel Argyle Street 14.35

SAS Raddison Hotel pickup Oswald Street14.40

Jurys Inn Hotel14.45

Thistle Hotel14.55

Crowne Plaza SECC 15.05

Transfer to Distillery 35min Tour Start Time 16.00

Whisky Bus Departs at 17.15pm back to Glasgow

These times are correct at the time of posting but i suggest you check www.thewhiskybus.co.uk to varify the times.

William

[Alastair]

Thanks for letting us know William, i may just take advantage of the whisky bus next week while the wife wonders around the shops in Glasgow.

Alastair