04.02.14
Scotchland
“Whiskey, like a beautiful woman, demands appreciation. You gaze first, then it's time to drink.”
I woke up to the night sky in the awe-inspiring city of Glasgow, and set off, ready for the adventure the little boy inside of me had always dreamed of.
With the first bus about to arrive, I realised I had forgotten my passport back at the hotel. My last chance to catch my flight coming in 10 minutes, I ran back to fetch it. We had come so far out of our way to make it to my scotch adventure - I wasn't going to miss that flight!
Before I knew it I was flying over the beautiful countryside of Islay (pronounced "eye-lah"). My excitement growing every minute.
Once we landed, we hailed a taxi in awe of the landscape that surround us.
We arrived early, giving us time to explore the area, the first destination for the day: Laphroaig distillery ("laf-roy-g").
With nobody else showing up for the group tour, we got a free upgrade to the private tour, which included extracting and bottling our own bottle of a cask-strength whiskey of our choice - truly one of a kind.
With our bellies full of scotch and oat biscuits, it was time to set off to the next distillery: Lagavulin.
The walk between distilleries was one of my most memorable experiences of our month long trip across Europe. The picturesque landscapes, salty sea wind, and of course a belly full of one f the worlds finest single malt scotches all contributed I my experience - I felt somewhat like Walter Mitty.
About a kilometre later we arrived at our second stop. At Lagavulin we were treated to an impromptu tasting of their newest batch that had not even hit the shelves yet. As we sat in the classic chairs in Lagavulin's tasting room, we appreciated the complex notes of the new blend, taking everything in. The scotch adventure was so much fun, and we still had half a day ahead of us.
Following the Lagavulin distillery, we approached the third and final destination for the day: Ardbeg.
As we were getting hungry, we decided to eat lunch at the restaurant at the distillery before taking the tour. By now we had got the gist of the whole process, and to be honest, we just wanted to taste more scotches.
After the tour, our moment had arrived - it was time to taste and we were not disappointed.
The tour guide had a collection of 10 different varieties for us to taste, each one slightly different to the other.
As the sun started to set in, so did fatigue. We caught another cab to Islay airport and discussed the exciting experiences we had as we waited for our flight.
This was such a fun day, and I would definitely recommend anyone interested in learning more about scotch to do a similar trip.
Distilleries in chronological order:
- Laphroaig
- Lagavulin
- Ardbeg
Airline:
fly.be
All Photos taken by blog Authors
- A.P -
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