Inverness – Mull – Ardnamurchan – Inverness in 14 hours
The Journey
A 5:45am alarm and a 6am departure for myself and Michael Fraser to hit up two of the remote, isolated distilleries in our quest to get to all the distilleries in Scotland with a Visitor Centre, Tobermory and the recently established Ardnamurchan distillery.
It was still pitch black but with the roads clear we made it to Fort William for sunrise. Unsure about the ferry at Corran so took the long way round Loch Eil towards the ferry at Lochaline. It poured rain from the moment we left Inverness for almost the entire day. The roads in Argyll are rural, with Michael doing a grand job of keeping all 4 wheels of his little car on the slim slice of tarmac running through the hills.
A quick stop at the Lochaline local shop was like stepping into the 1980s, with tired looking décor and a the ability to play a tune while looking at the fresh produce.
A 20 minute ferry over to the Isle of Mull and a steady drive to the picturesque town of Tobermory took us to our first distillery of the day. Tobermory Distillery Founded in 1798, its one of the handful of distilleries still open from the 18th century, although it was opened and closed over periods not uncommon to other distilleries. With an even split in production between their unpeated Tobermory brand and their peated Ledaig brand, they have a good mix of whiskies to taste. We got a fair selection from the liberal pouring tour guide who was finishing in a week or so. Having a guide on his last week or 2 really works in your favour when it comes to the size and range on offer at the end!
The whole distillery felt tired and had not been in production since March 2017. A two year closure is due to renovate the distillery and continue producing for both single malt and its owners Black Bottle blend (which happens to be my favourite entry level blend on the market). The guide seemed unconvinced that this work would be completed and the distillery may either be bought or mothballed. I did here this suggestion at the current owners (South African multinational Distell) sister distillery at Bunnahabhain. Time will tell which path the distillery takes, hopefully it continues well into this century and beyond. A quick hour in Tobermory to buy some small gifts to soften up the return home to our masters, we jumped on the ferry from central Tobermory to Kilchoan and speed towards our next distillery at Ardnamurchan. The peninsula is clearly sparsely populated and on clear days would provide a feast of scenic beauty. Luckily for us it was beyond horrible and there was nothing to see other than a pod of dolphins moving close to the ferry.
Ardnamurchan Distillery A longer than expected drive took us to the distillery which was cut into the Glenbeg hillside. With lots of new distilleries appearing all over Scotland it is hard to get overly excited about a visit with no product to try at the end. This truly was the opposite from Tobermory; clean, crisp and new. Ardnamurchan’s clinical shop did nothing to suggest it would be interesting beyond ticking another one off our list. However, after touring round the distillery I genuinely bought into the project and what they are trying to do there. Ticked all the boxes of biomass, moving towards a small floor malting for small batch whisky. Its green credentials were exceptional and its owners Adelphi really have created a great home to complement its independent bottler collection. On sampling the new-make which is made there, it really had something about it which felt unique. A sticky, floral, palatable new-make which bodes well moving forward once it starts to mature in the coming years.
From there, rain, darkness and whisky chat which would bore the most keen drinker. The only negative was our discovery of another distillery in this part of the world.. another two down, but one more return to the area will be needed to clean sweep…a long and worthwhile day.
THE END...........
Comments