Planning a visit to Islay

[Big Broon]

Bear with me here please.

I needed to go over to Islay on a work trip in July, but its been moved out to possibly early Nov, my plan was to do the business Mon & Tue, then take the rest of the week as a holiday, Wed, Thu & Fri and visit all the distilleries on the island (Inc a trip to Jura), I will be travelling over with the car for the Mon & Tues, but plan on ditching it for the days of the tours. I am travelling from the Central Belt of Scotland returning on the Friday.

Here are my questions ?

Has anyone done similar and is there a tried and tested way of doing this ?
Where is the best Location / Hotel / Airbnb to stay for the 4 nights ?
Which are the "highly recommended" tour experiences to do ?
What ones are just a basic tour and nosey round the shop with a drink in the cafe ?
Is it a better idea to do an organised full island distillery trip (if there is such a thing) or is it better just booking a taxi to take me everywhere ?

Any Help, Tips, Guides, Assistance, no matter how small will be a great help.

FYI, I'm not a novice at distillery visits, just not been to Islay, and when I can pick off the 10 inc Jura, I will have chalked up over 100 on my list.

Thanks

[Quaich1]

I spent 3 night on Islay in June 2019 and stayed at the luxurious hotel on the Island The Machrie Hotel and Golf Links. More like what you are looking for are the Bowmore cottages from one bedroom to 4 bedrooms available all year round right near the distillery. Nov. should be easier to book but I wouldn't wait too long to do it if you're going. The drams you get at each distillery depend on the type of tour you want there. Higher price better drams in the tasting. I toured most of the distilleries on the Island. My favorites were Bruichladdich, Caol Ila and Laphroiag and Bowmore. Lagavulin was pretty basic in drams. Ardbeg wasn't bad either. As I recall there were only one or 2 taxis available and I wouldn't recommend going that way. I was on a 2 week super-premium tour of Scotland from Canada. Hope this helps.
_________________
"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
W.C. Fields (1880-1946)

[Mark]

Like any distillery you visit the tours/whiskies get better the more you pay, I have always enjoyed visiting Bowmore, Laphroaig, Caol Ila and Ardbeg, havent been for some time though.

You may find this website handy if you want to price tours and taxis and to enquire about what is available https://www.islaywhiskytours.net/wwwislaywhiskytoursnet-c2414

[Big Broon]

Thanks guys, all this information is useful as I would like to maximise my time on the Island.
My thoughts were, that I would go for the most in depth tour / experience at which ever Distillery comes out on top or with the best feed back or is offering something slightly different, (malting floor etc) because lets face it, most distillery "tours" have pretty much the same content, its the back stories that set them apart, that would be the best part of a morning or afternoon (around 4hrs) then I would just do a tasting visit to all of the others sites inc Jura.

What do you think ?

[Scotchnthings]

I would personally ditch the idea of visiting all the distilleries. The island itself is beautiful, with nice beaches like machir bay and archeological sites. Also all the tours are pretty much the same. Lagavulin, Laphroaig and ardbeg are neighbours, just do a tour in one and visit the others for a walk around outside and a couple of drams. And just let it sink in and relax a bit. I can really recommend the bunnahabhain tour, did a couple and that was my personal standout. Kilchoman was also very good. Enjoy your trip!

[Scotchnthings]

I would personally ditch the idea of visiting all the distilleries. The island itself is beautiful, with nice beaches like machir bay and archeological sites. Also all the tours are pretty much the same. Lagavulin, Laphroaig and ardbeg are neighbours, just do a tour in one and visit the others for a walk around outside and a couple of drams. And just let it sink in and relax a bit. I can really recommend the bunnahabhain tour, did a couple and that was my personal standout. Kilchoman was also very good. Enjoy your trip!

[Big Broon]

Thanks scotchnthings.

I know its a bit sad, don't laugh, but a few years ago (during lockdown) I made it a personal mission to visit every distillery in Scotland (I'm currently at 94) and get a couple of "off piste" pictures at each and every one if I can, the kind of thing you wouldn't normally see online or in books/magazines etc.

That's the main reason I want to pay a visit to all of them, unfortunately I cant post any to show you the type of thing I mean, but I sort of go hunting or ask at the visitor centre if they have one or the offices if they don't, for things like the older hand painted signs and relics (stills, carts, barrels, traditional crafts, etc) that most of the sites still have lying about etc.

[Duncan Disorderly]

Big Broon - I have to ask you for your top 5 distillery visits. I’m taking the family up to beautiful Scotland soon and want to visit 3 or 4 (my wife will reluctantly take the wheel on these days!).
I’ve been to Aberlour, Strathisla, Glen Grant, Dalwhinnie, and drove past a ton of others that weren’t letting visitors in during the summers of 20 and 21 (something about a virus apparently). Any tips would be very welcome 🙂

[Big Broon]

Hi D D.

Happy to offer my opinion, but being honest, it all comes down to lots of factors ,like what your looking for, what area your visiting, what region is your favourite tipple from or is it a tasting session or a full blown tour your after, for instance -;

Purely for the history, Lindores Abbey Distillery in Fife, the spiritual home of whisky, as this is where the first recorded mention of the golden dram was made in 1494.

One of the most modern, well appointed. is the new visitor centre at Glenkinchie just south of Edinburgh.

For rural, remote and traditional, you will do a lot worse than GlenDronach up in Forgue in Aberdeenshire

For a great feeling of a road trip adventure with a reward at the end look no futher than Talisker at Carbost over on Skye

Again a great adventure would be to visit the 3 traditional Distilleries in Campbeltown, almost all next to each other in the town centre.

If you head up to Speyside, your spoiled for choice and they are all within a tight radius, but for a total curve ball suggestion, try the Speyside Cooperage at Dufftown ,where you can even try your hand at making a barrel.

Scotland oldest distillery is Glenturret at Creiff, (close to Gleneagles Hotel & Golf) and has a lovely (award winning) restuarant attached

Glen Moray, Balvenie/Glenfiddich, Glenfarclas, Oban are also worthy of a mention, so as you can see, it very much supposition and circumstances or if you want to play an ace card, take the wife to Edinburgh, she can go shopping and you can visit the Johnnie Waker building (book the rooftop bar) or the Scotch Whisky Experience on the Royal Mile up at the castle, pretty touristy but still enjoyable, I've been to both a handful of times and would still go back.

Here's hoping you enjoy what ever route you decide to take.

[Duncan Disorderly]

Very grateful for your advice BB… thanks for taking the time to go into such detail. I’ll make sure I come back on the forum after we’ve been up there to let you know when we ended up! Cheers

[The Mantis]

[timelessmelody]

I was over in Islay in April for a week. Not a tour, but I thought the Lagavulin Warehouse Experience was excellent....1 hour with Iain MacArthur who's worked there over 50 years and we got to sample 6 drams, most of which were straight from the cask.

The Three Distilleries Path from Port Ellen up past Laphraoig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg is great if you're staying in the south of the island and fancy visiting the 3 on foot.