Distillery and Whisky News November 2021 - GlenAllachie
Hello whisky lovers and welcome to our November edition of Distillery and Whisky News.
The nights are getting longer = more time for sitting round the fire with friends, sipping a dram.
The days are getting wetter - so much rain - but you know how whisky starts, right? More water = more whisky.
Many distilleries move into their winter hours this month, so make sure you book in advance if you're visiting. And don't forget to pick up your Christmas presents from their shops afterwards - so much goodness on offer.
DistilleryTours Podcast - Lagavulin
This month we spoke to Pierrick Guillaume, distillery manager at the Lagavulin Distillery on the Isle of Islay.
Pierrick talks about the sights, sounds and smells of Islay, why he loves working at the Lagavulin Distillery and the journey that brought him there, and why he’s taken the Lagavulin 12 year old on holiday with him.
Thanks to CalMac for sponsoring the podcast - if you're visiting the islands this year check out calmac.co.uk for travel information and tourist inspiration.
Date with a Dram: The Glen Grant
Our Date with a Dram this month is with The Glen Grant Distillery, nestled in Scotland’s bucolic Speyside region. Surrounded by rivers brimming with cool, fresh water fed by hundreds of natural springs, and fields boasting the ideal conditions for growing barley, Glen Grant is located in the northern end of the village of Rothes. For four years in a row, The Glen Grant Distillery's 18 Year Old was voted the best Scotch whisky in the world, best single malt scotch (multiple casks), and single malt scotch of the year (aged 16-21 years).
This complex single malt Scotch whisky delivers delicate notes of vanilla, butterscotch, and raisins with hints of spice and a long finish.
Worth £122, one lucky winner will be sent a bottle of the 18 Year Old to enjoy.
Competition Time!
Want to be in with a chance to win a bottle of The Glen Grant 18 Year Old? Simply follow DistilleryTours.scot on Facebook and share our 'Date with a Dram' post dated 29 October. The lucky winner will be chosen at random and announced in our December newsletter!
And congratulations to Harry Shreeve from the south of England who won last month's competition to win a bottle of the GlenDronach Distillery's Cask Strength Edition - enjoy, Harry!
You must be 18 years old or over to enter. Please note, will never approach you for your credit card details or personal information, send you friend requests or ask you to click on a link. Please stay safe online.
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Venue of the month: SMWS Bath Street
Scotch Malt Whisky Society on Bath St, Glasgow
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) is a haven for whisky lovers.
If you've not been before, you can expect fine food, a calm and relaxed atmosphere, excellent service and, well, more whisky than you can shake a stick at.
The Society’s focus is on unique whiskies bottled from a single cask at natural strength. This means you'll never know which distillery the whisky came from, and the SMWS get to name their whiskies with fantastic names like 'A slap in the face with a welly boot', 'Lost in the sand dunes', and 'Making Hay in a Wardrobe'.
The SMWS on Bath Street in Glasgow is their newest venue, and it's beautiful. Modern and stylish with a Glasgow flavour, it boasts a colourful collection of more than 850 cask strength bottlings available by the dram.
You can join the SMWS for access to exclusive Members’ Rooms, partner bar discounts, colourful tasting events, whisky education and their wonderful monthly members magazine Unfiltered. Find out more about the benefits of membership on their website.
Find out more about the Scotch Malt Whisky Society on Bath Street in Glasgow on their dedicated page on the DistilleryTours.scot website.
Distillery of the Month: GlenAllachie
GlenAllachie Distillery in Aberlour, Banffshire
GlenAllachie is an independently owned and managed distillery, led by industry veteran Billy Walker, who boasts an almost 50-year tenure in whisky.
Nestled at the foot of Ben Rinnes, the distillery lies at the heart of Speyside and spans 16 on-site warehouses holding more than 50,000 casks. Indeed, GlenAllachie has the capacity to produce four million litres of alcohol, but made the decision to reduce this to just 500,000 to develop as a single malt brand, focusing on quality over quantity.
By slowing down production, they have a longer fermentation of 160 hours, and their two separate spirit safes allow them to operate each set of stills independently. The distillery is also gravity fed, and they have horizontal condensers to make it easier to maintain a consistent temperature, or increase/decrease to alter the character of the spirit.
Their passionate team have complete control of the end-to-end maturation process, giving them the freedom to make decisions for all the right reasons.
Find out more about the GlenAllachie Distillery, their whisky, their tours and tastings on their dedicated page on the DistilleryTours.scot website.
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