Whisky Forum - Speysides visit

sorren · Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 11:46 am Post subject: Speysides visit

Ok a quick question to you all, I'm looking to visit speyside in June, I'm told there are some distilleries above Auchentoshan 😆... So who has been there and done some tours, I'm thinking of balvenie or Glenfarclas, which tours are the best at each distillery, ( above the standard tour ) I think I might only have one maybe two days so it's going to be limited, distance not an issue so any recommendations are welcome.. Thanks

Bookie · Master Of Malts Joined: 15 Sep 2008 Posts: 945

Both The Balvenie and Glenfarclas offer great tours, and really are the 2 distilleries worth visiting in Speyside. It may have changed but the in-depth tours of Glenfarclas were only available July and August

The Balvenies connoisseurs tour is one of the best whisky distillery tours around, it last about 3 hours. You get the usual history and facts then an extensive tour of the distillery including working floor maltings, whisky production, cooperage. Then you get to sample new make spirit right through to the good stuff which was the Balvenie 30 when i visited. You could also bottle you own from a choice of different casks. Glenfiddich is near by and you could squeeze in a free tour there.

Whisky Dog · Master Of Malts Joined: 09 Apr 2014 Posts: 708

The Balvenie is a must do tour, Glenfarclas is good and even better if you are a fan of Glenfarclas whisky.

The Founders tour at Aberlour is good if you are a fan of Aberlour whisky

sorren · Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 4:44 pm Post subject:

Thanks for replys, with the balvenie tour, is it full size bottles for bottle your own if so what choice is there and any idea how much, do you need to book the bottle your own ? .. My problem is I love Glenfarclas and balvenie, I can see it costing me a fortune lol

William · Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 5:25 pm Post subject:

sorren it is 200ml fill your own bottles (unless they have changed it) and usually there is a choice of 3 barrels, that may have changed also but a quick call to the distillery will confirm it (01340 822 210). The Balvenie is one of the best tours around, highly recommend it .

The in-depth Balvenie tour is Â£35 and the bottle your own is Â£25 and you need to pre-book the tour as you do with most distillery in-depth tours. Sounds expensive but well worth it, the tour is around 3 hours.

You can pre book via the Balvenie website and don't forget to join the Balvenie Warehouse 24 as members get a free dram when visiting the distillery.
_________________
There's no bad whisky. Just good whisky and better whisky.

sorren · Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 5:34 pm Post subject:

Thanks William, I just found that info, shame it's only 200ml, I take it you can bottle all 3 ? .. I was actually expecting it to cost more than that for the tour.. So pleasantly surprised... And I already joined the warehouse 24 club albeit a fair time ago...

minesascotch · Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 7:44 pm Post subject:

Balvenie without a doubt, I have been twice ! the fill your own bottle (200cl) last time were the following, having sampled them first, all first fill.

12 yr old Bourbon 12 yr old Sherry 14 yr old Bourbon

After the tour we went into the tasting room and had the following

12 Doublewood
12 Signature
14 Caribbean Cask
15 Single Cask
21 Port Wood Cask
30 year old

The Glenfarclas Tour ( Do not remember the Tour Title) was also good we tasted the following

12 yr
21 yr
40 yr
Family Cask 1966/2011 51.1%

Slainte Top Malt

sorren · Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 8:03 pm Post subject:

I know I want to do balvenie but I really fancy the Glenfarclas, grrrr I might have to extend my stay, I assume your allowed to get a bottle from each cask from balvenie( or two from each 😊) ??

minesascotch · Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 8:19 pm Post subject:

sorren · Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 8:55 pm Post subject:

Well the wife can do 3 and I'll do 3 and I'll take the cat n dog too, o and the children do that's 6 x 3 x Â£25 😊

sorren · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 4:05 pm Post subject:

Ok so rang balvenie to book my visit , first week in June, only to be told it's fully booked until middle of June, and even has a waiting list to get onto the visit 😢, so need a second option, looking at Glenfarclas now and maybe aberlour, what other options do any of you recommend as third/ forth options, .. Also does balvenie, Glenfarclas or aberlour do distillery only bottles ? Thanks ..

Blackadder · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 6:37 pm Post subject:

I am sure all 3 do bottle your own but i dont think they have pre-bottled distillery only bottles but i may be wrong. Things can change all the time for instance the Balvenie Tun 1401 batch 1 was distillery only.

sorren · Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 4:15 pm Post subject:

Well the aberlour and Glenfarclas tours are booked.. Just got to decide on a couple more..

whisky_rob · Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 9:30 pm Post subject:

Glenfarclas don't do bottle your own. Glenlivet have recently started doing bottle your own and their 'special' tour is very good.

The Glenfiddich special tours are also pretty good. Bit of a curve ball but I really enjoyed Ben Riach and Glen Moray tours (Glen Moray also do bottle your own). The Ben Riach one is by appointment only but was very good.

Benromach is another option for you as is Macallan and Cragganmore.

sorren · Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 10:10 pm Post subject:

Thanks whisky rob.. I've looked at the benriach tour, only problem is they only do Tuesday's and Thursday's, my Tuesday is fully booked Sad

.. And if I do it on Thursday the wife has to drive home Twisted Evil

... Not sure if they would let me do the tour and bottle my samples so I can drive..