The Scotch Whisky Experience
Aug 15th, 2007 by Ian
While my parents were in town, I took the opportunity to do the The Scotch Whisky Experience. The tour was good and it was interesting to hear the historical parallels with the presentation given at our cava tasting at Codorniu in November. The story presented goes that when the Atlantic crossing time was reduced with the introduction of modern steam engines the Phylloxera insect’s eggs were able to survive the crossing and within a matter of years 75-90% of Europe’s grape production had been destroyed. During this time people struggled to find a new drink and the Whisky industry provided the product and heavily invested in advertising abroad. By the time a solution was found to the grape vine epidemic and productions had been returned, Whisky had established itself.
In addition to a “Dram of the day” - ours was famous grouse - to start the tour we were each given a Glencairn Whisky glass. The glass design is supposed to be the result of years of consultation with Whisky experts and be the perfect glass to enjoy all the characteristics of a good dram of Whisky.
After the tour we enjoyed 4 Whisky tastings - a dram each from the lowlands, highlands, Speyside and finally the islands. There are two menus of 4 drams available - a regional menu and a casked menu. I went for the regional menu, which was as follows:
- Lowland - Genkinchie 10 yo
- Highland - Royal Lochnagar 12 yo
- Speyside - Glenlivet 12 yo
- Islands - Caol lla 12 yo
The casked menu was as follows:
- Speyside BenRiach Bourbon (American White Oak) casked
- Glenmorangie wine (American White followed by Cote D’Or European Oak) casked
- Balvenie Portwood 1993 (American bourbon, Portugal Port) casked
- Macallan 10yo Sherry Oak (European Red, Jerez, Spain) casked
After your tasting you get a membership to the Scotch Whisky Appreciation Society which allows you to do 2 for 1 tours in the future - though tastings are not 2 for 1. I should have checked out the Whisky Experience website as they have a few special offers including a discounted tour entry and a complementary dram - oh well there is always next time =).
It seems like a lot of the Scottish attractions have special offers on their website. I wish I had known that www.malts.com offers free memberships - entitling you to free tours of all the classic malt distilleries - before we did our road trip around Scotland.