Whisky Tour of Scotland

[TheBeeKeeper]

Hi folks,

Before I start...... bottle to throttle, got it, fully aware and would not risk my life or license to the contrary.

However, having just completed a short wine tour of France by motorhome, the idea of touring a region of Scotland for Whiskey sounds like a great idea.

Any ideas of airfields within walking/taxi distance of distillaries anyone?

Good lady flies a C152 and I fly something similar to a Tiger Moth... advantages and disadvantages with both of course, could get myself re checked out on an Archer depending on how much we intended to bring back!

Has anyone done this before? There must be...... would be grateful to hear of any experiences.

Thanks in advance

TBK

[Genghis the Engineer]

Had a couple of days on Islay last year, flew in and hired a car at about £30/day. Mrs.G would only allow me one distillery visit, but certainly all are within a relatively short drive of each other in a hire car - a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Pick your accomodation right and you can manage to do one or two and walk to your bed (for that matter, most of the pubs and hotels have pretty stunning selections on Islay). Do book your accomodation well in advance however, it tends to be pretty chocker on all of the Hebridean Islands.

G

[Rocket2]

Spent many happy years in the Highlands on HM's Kipper Fleet. The Speyside distilleries are worth every minute of your visiting time & most are in easy (driving) reach of Inverness or Kinloss /Lossiemouth (if you can get permission to land there). The local gliding clubs also may accept you, for me the best place to be was at the Highland Gliding Club (just south of Elgin) depending on which direction the wind was coming from depended on which distillery you could smell - pure heaven!
Best of luck
Rk2
PS If your up that way, suggest a visit to the Baxters Soup factory at Fochabers, sounds sad but it's very good with guided tours etc & it's also free (most distillerys make a visiting charge now)

[rjt194]

There are also several distillaries within short driving distance of Inverness and Edinburgh (which also has the Whisky Heritage Centre).

There's a map here (http://www.scotlandwhisky.com/distilleries/) which might be useful.

[Circuit Basher]

Surprised that no-one's mentioned the Black Bottle Challenge (http://flyinghorse.co.uk/black_bottle.htm) yet - even better, in that it involves the West Coast distilleries and you get a free bottle thrown in!!

Not that I've got anything against Speyside malts, but my taste is more attuned to the Jura / West Coast malts!

[BigStu]

Unfortunately there was no Black Bottle Challenge last year, nor is there one this year. The powers that be are yet undecided about next year.

You could always do the same route but stop at Cumbernauld for a bottle of Buckfast instead.

[helicopter-redeye]

Kuriously I was just about to mention it.

I did said challenge twice before it was canned (nobody wanted the free Whisky apparently, but all the landing fees and fuel cost more than the Bottle itself).

Full account is on the redeye website, or use "Black Bottle" in Google to get a few accounts.

There are loads of small fields in the West of Scotland but you need the right weather and the right type of craft to visit. Easy by helicopter by I would'nt graze a horse on some of the airstrips, let alone land a light FW there.

h-r:) :)

[Paris Dakar]

I fully endorse Rocket2's posting.

I spent a wonderful time up on Speyside, living there (Glenlivet to be precise) in the mid 80s.

Hire a car and do the tour! The are dozens of distilleries to see and sample and they are all within a very easy driving distance.

I too did the Baxters tour and it was well worth it!

'Walkers ' have their shortbread factory based at Aberlour - if you drive through the village the smell will force you to park up and buy some!!

Try your best to get there - you won't be dissapointed the following address will give you details of the 900 m strip close to Aviemore www.gliding.org/

Hope that helps.

PD

[TheBeeKeeper]

Thanks for the replies folks..... time to start planning me thinks!

TBK