Whisky, wool and walking in Speyside
Forget the three Rs. I went to Speyside, Scotland's "single-malt capital of the world", to brush up on the three Ws: whisky, wool and walking.
Striding beside the River Spey on a misty afternoon, a warm sweater from a local mill wrapped around my shoulders, an even warmer dram of whisky awaiting me at my hotel ahead, I realized I'd reached peak Speyside status.
Educational mission accomplished. Or, to quote Scottish poet and noted whisky fan Robert Burns: "Gie me ae spark of Nature's fire/That's a' the learning I desire."
Dreaming of drams and doing a little whisky wandering of your own? Here are a few pointers to the Speyside region's must-sees.
Getting there
Speyside is located in northeastern Scotland, and the closest airport is Inverness. From there, you can rent a car or take the train to the Elgin, Aviemore or Keith stations, whichever is closest to your accommodations. If you are traveling from London, you may want to consider the Caledonian Sleeper that runs from Euston station to Inverness and is a fun way to step back in time to a slower and more gracious form of transport.
Where to stay
Dufftown is home to several distilleries and has rail service to Keith during the summer. You'll find a number of B&Bs here. Book ahead, since rooms are limited. The pretty village of Aberlour has the Aberlour and Cardhu distilleries as well as The Dowans Hotel, which has a very good restaurant and well-stocked whisky bar, plus rooms ranging from small but well-designed singles that start at around $100 a night to luxe suites. In the heart of the village, you'll find The Mash Tun, a whisky bar and restaurant with four rooms. Also of note is the Quaich bar in the Craigellachie Hotel, home to hundreds of whiskies.
Getting around
There are buses, but car is the easiest way to get around. If you're not renting, you can book a driver by the day or take taxis. Since taxis are limited, it's best to ask your hotel or B&B host to set up rides a day ahead.
Speyside is known for its single malts, whiskies made at a single distillery from malted grain, usually barley. Big names include The Glenlivet, Glenfiddich and The Macallan. More than a dozen distilleries are open to the public. Pick the ones that mean the most to you for whatever reason and plan accordingly.
The area hosts an annual Spirit of Speyside Whiskey Festival. The next is scheduled for April 27-May 1.
Three distilleries to consider:
Glenfidditch and Balvenie are neighboring Dufftown distilleries that offer contrasting experiences.
At Glenfiddich, you'll tour the distillery, visit the warehouses where the barrels age and finish up with a tasting. Tours start at around $13, reservations recommended.
The Balvenie distillery has a traditional, working malting floor as well as its own cooperage on site. It's recommended you book four weeks ahead. Tours start at $50, and for an extra $30 or so you can bottle your own bottle of Balvenie.
Glenfiddich has a restaurant, and just around the corner are the atmospheric ruins of Balvenie Castle, which is open to visitors April-September. Check out the nearby field - you may see some Highland cattle with their adorably fringed faces.
The Macallan is in Craigellachie and is the whisky James Bond likes to drink. Construction is underway check the website for traffic information.
The Six Pillars tour, at about $19, offers an excellent and in-depth look into what goes into making and aging a single malt whisky and finishes with a tasting of four whiskies. Reservations are required. The distillery is set in an extensive estate backing on to the Spey, and visitors can walk around the area.
The Speyside Way runs about 105 km from Buckie, on the northeast coast, to Aviemore, near the Cairngorm mountains. Bikes are allowed on some parts of the route.
Elgin is home to Johnstons of Elgin, maker of fine cashmere.
Free guided tours of th to reserve ahead to make sure you're not disappointed.
If you are at all into cashmere goods, this is well worth the time.
You'll follow the life cycle of cashmere, from fluffy ball of uncarded fiber to the colorful, chattering looms that weave fabric into the lush scarves, knitwear and other finished products.
A restaurant is on site - the scones are highly recommended - and, of course, there's a well-stocked gift shop.
Just across the street are the stark yet elegant ruins of Elgin Cathedral, open April-September.
In the village of Knockando, you'll find the historic Knockando Woolmill, which has been producing woven fabric for 200 years and has a pretty garden setting, a gift shop selling unique woven goods and an excellent small cafe. Closed during the winter, it opens for the season in March.
The ruins of Elgin Cathedral in Elgin, in Scotland's Speyside region. The cathedral is across the street from Johnstons of Elgin, the maker of fine cashmere.Michelle Locke Via AP
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Glenfiddich
Glenfiddich is one of three William Grant-owned whisky distilleries which sit in relatively close proximity to each other to the north of Dufftown, the spiritual heart of Speyside. Founded in 1886, by William Grant of Mortlach and Balvenie fame, the Glenfiddich distillery is currently one of but three distilleries to bottle on site and houses stills with a total yearly capacity of ten million litres. Furthermore, Glenfiddich matures its single-malt whisky in their onsite warehouses, which number forty-three and have a capacity of 800,000 casks. Malt is bought in, a proportion of this is made up of that malted at the neighbouring Balvenie distillery. Glenfiddich was the first distillery with a visitor centre, which receives 125,000 visitors per annum and underwent a ?1.7 million rebuild in 2005. World famous, Glenfiddich is the number one top-selling single malt whisky not only in the UK, but also globally. Following the end of the Second World War and the resultant surge in whisky demand, Glenfiddich was a relatively small brand and faced hefty competition from the blended scotch brands which held a veritable monopoly on the market. Rather than competing directly, the Glenfiddich distillery concentrated on single malt sales and in 1963 became the first Scotch whisky to be marketed as such, flying proudly in the face of critics. The gamble paid off and eleven years later sixteen new stills were installed to cope with demand. The range is large and includes several cask finishes as well as a 2002-released 1937 vintage, of which there are just sixty-one bottles, each came with a recommended retail price of ?10,000.
The second release in Glenfiddich's Experimental Series is their Project XX expression, which was made not simply by one Malt Master, but 20! 20 Malt Masters were invited to the Glenfiddich&
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51 Reviews
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A special edition Glenfiddich. This 15 year old is non chill filtered and has been bottled at higher strength. This is classic Glenfiddich, but with added complexity and character.
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This classic Speyside from Glenfiddich was the Winner of a Gold Medal at the 2007 International Wine and Spirit Competition, aged for 12 years in American and European Oak casks.
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A half bottle of Glenfiddich 12 year old, a multi-award winning whisky from Speyside. The Glenfiddich distillery was the first that William Grant ever built (the second was Balvenie).
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The Glenfiddich 25 Year Old Rare Oak was originally released for the Travel Retail market. It's drawn from a mixture of Spanish Sherry butts and American bourbon barrels, resulting in a rich, complex&
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Released as a Travel Retail exclusive alongside two other Glenfiddich Cask Collection bottlings, the Reserve Cask focusses on the Sherried side of this Speyside distillery's output. This rich,&
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A one litre bottling of Glenfiddich Special Old Reserve, thought to date from the 1980s, confusingly labelled as 'pure malt'.
This bottle was part of a private collection.
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We think that this 35cl bottling of Glenfiddich Special Old Reserve single malt Scotch whisky was produced back in the 1980s. This one comes with the original presentation tube - fancy!
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Glenfiddich The Original is a single malt Scotch whisky inspired by a previous release from the legendary distillery - the 1963 Glenfiddich Straight Malt, the expression which Sandy Grant Gordon&
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page for more information.--&|&------------------------------------------------daily reddit gold goal111%reddit gold gives you extra features and helps keep our servers running. We believe the more reddit can be user-supported, the freer we will be to make reddit the best it can be.Buy gold for yourself to gain access to  and . A month of gold pays for  231.26 minutes of reddit server time!Give gold to thank exemplary people and encourage them to post more.Yesterday's reddit gold goal93%sorted by: newI would do naughty naughty things to my mother in law.
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NSFWThanks
What's that one on the far right?
012 ()loading...012 ()NSFWloading...Also, if you break a baseball bat, you have a lighter, sharper piece of wood left in your hand.
Yes please just assume whatever the fuck you want.
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I know there's no answers here but I hope there is some perspective.
Anyone who can have 100 percent trust after his wife confessed to cheating is either a fool or the reincarnation of Gandhi.
The marines would share, but the army needs adult supervision to play with crayons.
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Where did you get that jacket?
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You were the first person to call my comments arguments.
Yes I know that &dukkha& is better translated as &dissatisfaction& and that really just adds to my argument.
To be dissatisfied is just another way of saying &I'm not ok with this& so my statements becomes &if you're not ok with something and you're ok with that, are you still not ok?
If you're suffering, but you're ok with that, are you still suffering?
One of them ran for president 4 years ago
He was last scene as a butler in fosters home for imaginary friends
In theory, we would at least learn from our mistakes and eventually find a new mold for what makes a good presidential candidate. Hopefully before the slew of idiot presidents destroys us all.
Hope springs eternal.
Hear it? I wanna make it happen!
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What would I do? File you away as another coworker that hates me ass and interact with you as professionally as I can whenever I have to.
How could you apologize to me? J I get snippy when I'm stressed, too. The word &sorry& isn't even that necessary (for me). Our relationship will go back to where it was.
Disclaimer: I'm not him. He could be more mature than I am or he could be a total man child. Your mileage may vary.
NSFWhelpapps & tools&3Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our  and . & 2017 reddit inc. All rights reserved.REDDIT and the ALIEN Logo are registered trademarks of reddit inc.