If you’re relatively new to the whisky scene, you’ll most likely have seen a few different expressions of Glen Moray at your local retailer and perhaps wondered what the brand is all about. Conversely, you may have been into your whiskies for a while now…and also wondered what the brand is all about! That said, what you’ll undoubtedly have noticed in recent times is that the brand is making a bigger splash these days and is more prevalent about the place. That’s no accident or stroke of luck, but as we’ll explore in just a moment, it’s a distillery that’s well and truly grown into its own skin and forged new frontiers. So what’s the Glen Moray story, and why should you be exploring its whiskies?
Tag: Speyside
Visiting Scotland when your partner doesn’t like whisky
When planning a whisky trip to Scotland, most keen whisky tourists typically plan their itinerary by plotting out the key distilleries they want to visit, and then they crudely join the dots by shoehorning in the requirements and logistics of accommodation, transport, and food. That’s all well and good but, as you quickly discover, distillery tours and visiting times are generally condensed between the hours of 10.00am and 4.00pm – leaving you with some blanks to fill in your days. Also, as we explored in this article here (scroll down to point no. 7), trying to get your various distillery tours aligned without clashes or overlaps is a tough challenge. Another consideration is that – as a very general generalisation – it would be fair to say that most whisky enthusiasts who would plan such a dedicated whisky pilgrimage to Scotland often have partners that don’t share a love of whisky to quite the same level of fanaticism.
Accordingly, when planning a trip to Scotland with your partner, you’ll often need to incorporate stops, side-excursions, and other attractions to keep your other half happy….and not sentence them to the drudgery of sitting in the distillery car park while you’re inside having fun. To keep the mood happy between the two of you as you traverse around the country, here are some worthwhile destinations, attractions, and other things to do in Scotland that are all near distilleries or that you’ll pass through as you hop from distillery to distillery….
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The Speyside Whisky Trail
With travel opening up again around the world, and particularly in the UK, whisky tourism is slowly getting back into the swing of things. And no whisky pilgrimage to Scotland would be complete without swinging by Speyside and dropping into a distillery or two. Or three. Or twenty. In fact, for those looking to make a specific trip of it, Alastair Rooney’s new book, “The Speyside Whisky Trail” is the perfect guide for discovering a lot about Scotland and visiting 20 distilleries along the way.
10 things every whisky lover should know before visiting Scotland
Visiting Scotland soon? Are you planning a trip to Scotland to visit your favourite whisky distilleries? Yes, for every whisky lover, it’s the ultimate pilgrimage: After listening jealously to other people’s travels and dreaming of making it to the promised land, you’ve FINALLY saved up for and planned your first whisky trip to Scotland. Exciting times!
Of course, every first-timer always asks the same questions in the early stages of planning: Where’s the best place to stay? Which distilleries should I visit? Should I hire a car? Do I have time to get to Islay? How many days should I spend in Speyside? Is the trip up to Orkney worth it?
Naturally, the answers to these are highly subjective and individual. They’ll depend on your budget, the amount of time you can spare, which distilleries are your favourites, and what transport options are at your disposal. But there are a few things to appreciate about visiting distilleries that you won’t read in the guide books or find online. Here are ten things you ought to know before heading off to Scotland…
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Glen Moray Mastery
Glen Moray celebrates its 120th anniversary this year, having been founded way back in 1897. The distillery had humble beginnings and had already endured over a decade of silence and inactivity when it was bought by Macdonald & Muir (effectively Glenmorangie) in 1920. Glenmorangie held the reins for the next 88 years, during which time the distillery became a workhorse for the many supermarket blends that Macdonald & Muir were behind. If you believe the folklore, Glen Moray was also the playground for Dr Bill Lumsden, who would conduct all manner of trials and maturation experiments on Glen Moray spirit before transferring his more successful undertakings across to Glenmorangie.
The Top Six things to do in Speyside
Yes, of all the things to do in Speyside, the most obvious is to visit the distilleries and drink whisky. But there’s so much more on offer if you look beyond the distilleries…
The Whisky Lover’s Guide to climbing Ben Rinnes
Thinking about climbing Ben Rinnes? If you love whisky and you’re visiting Speyside, then a hike up to the top of Ben Rinnes is a must.
Each year, thousands of whisky tourists make their way to Speyside to visit their own personal mecca. Each pilgrim no doubt has their own favourite distillery and plans their itinerary around getting a glimpse into the factory that produces their most revered malt.
Of course, no one travels all the way to Speyside to visit just one, single distillery and thus it’s not uncommon for we pilgrims to set up camp in one of the many hotels or B&B’s and use it as a base to explore multiple distilleries over several days.
Outside of the distilleries, however, your average whisky tourist quickly runs out of things to do in Speyside. The only other pursuits are the outdoors – golf, salmon fishing, and hiking. And it’s this last category that offers something pretty special to the whisky enthusiast.
Ben Rinnes is the highest mountain in the Speyside region. At 840m, it’s officially a “Corbett”, being 300 feet shy to qualify as a Munro. It towers above many of the distilleries, and the snow melt and water run-off from the hills goes a long way to supplying many of the surrounding distilleries in its foothills. Needless to say, the view from the summit is incredible, and distillery spotters can have fun trying to identify the many distilleries visible from the top. For the whisky enthusiast or jaded Speyside visitor looking for a new perspective, climbing Ben Rinnes is a highly recommended and rewarding journey. So here’s the whisky lover’s guide to climbing Ben Rinnes…
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An audience with Balvenie and David Stewart
Want to know about David Stewart and his role with Balvenie / William Grant and Sons? Read on….
If you’re an employer or in charge of Human Resources, you’ll be aware of the dynamic and shifting nature of your workforce in recent years. Being Generation X myself, it was drummed into me that you should show loyalty to your employer and stick around. We were constantly told by the Baby Boomer generation above us that “your CV will look more impressive and you’ll be rewarded if you’ve demonstrated that you stay at the one place for five to ten years.”
This is in stark contrast to the Gen Y and Millenial approach, where the thinking seems to be that a CV littered with multiple positions and experience gained across a many different roles and jobs is the more attractive pursuit.
So with that as context, what do we make of an employee who sticks with his boss for 54 years? What do we make of a role and a career that has outlasted many people’s lives, let alone most people’s professional undertakings? Such is the story and the appeal of Mr David Stewart of Balvenie.
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Glenmorangie Milsean
Glenmorangie Milsean. If there’s one thing you can say about the whisky scene right now, it’s never dull or boring. Each week there is a new release, or a new launch, or another event, or another tasting, or yet another whisky being sold for an outrageous price. So, regardless of where you fit into the whisky audience, there’s always something to keep an eye out for.
In the rapid-fire and seemingly peak randomness of the above happenings, it’s nice to know that we can at least look forward to some annual constants. Things like an annual whisky show. (Whisky Show, Whisky Fair, Whisky Live, etc). Things like a brand’s big annual celebration. (Ardbeg Day). And, for our tastebuds, things like an annual release – such as Glenmorangie’s annual release of their latest Private Edition offering.
The three stages of your attitude to Glenfiddich: Like – Hate – Love
Catchy article title, eh? Not sure my former editor would approve of it – it’s hardly a flowing headline. But there’s not really a more succinct way to say it. I’ll elaborate: It’s my opinion that whisky drinkers all go through three very distinct stages in their appreciation of Glenfiddich. And, depending on what stage you’re up to, this tremendously impacts your attitude to Glenfiddich. Curious? Let’s look into this…
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