In search of the hair of the dog in whisky country

The internet stated that the famous Glenfiddich whisky Distillery, just a half mile north of Dufftown, was open.

The sign at the top of the driveway also said it was open.

But even in my state I knew something wasn’t quite right when I pulled into a completely empty carpark.

It was about 11 o’clock on a dreich Sunday morning wedged between the Christmas and New Year celebrations. 

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I had stayed the night before, on my birthday, at The Craigellachie Hotel in the heart of Scotland’s Speyside. My head was a little cloudy from several flights of whisky tastings consumed in the historic The Quaich bar.

The Quaich was founded in 1893. The word quaich means cup of friendship and patrons here, in this bar filled with hand-crafted British furniture, can choose from more than 900 single-malt whiskies from throughout the world. An Edinburgh couple, planning on having their wedding reception at The Craigellachie Hotel, had on hearing my Australian accent generously shown their friendship by shouting me a flight of Macallan whiskies. I returned serve with some Popcorn Haggis and a Drams of the Ben flight, whisky from distilleries that can be seen from the summit of Scotland’s whisky mountain, Ben Rinnes.   

Now that’s seven whiskies in total. That’s six more than I would normally drink. Four more than I probably should ever drink.

Sunday morning coming down

So it was no wonder a heavy haar was clouding my Sunday morning thoughts. 

Whisky is Scotland’s national drink and the country’s biggest export.

The Scots have been honing their whisky-making skills for centuries originally as a way of turning rain-soaked barley into a drinkable spirit.

Today there are 133 Scotch Whisky distilleries across the country. 

None have a better story to tell than Glenfiddich – if only it was open.

My wife Ali and I wandered over to the main building and bumped into an Italian couple who too had trusted the internet hoping to book a spot on one of the four distillery tours usually on offer.

Let sleeping dogs rest

As we stood there a tall gentleman marched towards us with his sleepy Labrador in tow.

It turned out he was Glenfiddich’s chief distiller and he was using this Sunday morning to catch up on some overdue paperwork.

I must admit, what happened next stunned me. 

“I can’t let you do any tastings but I’m happy to show you around and take you through the process of whisky making if you like?” he asked.

It doesn’t get much better than an exclusive free tour hosted by the man entrusted with a key role in carrying on Glenfiddich’s 130-plus-year whisky making tradition. 

William Grant opened the Glenfiddich (meaning valley of the deer in Gaelic) distillery in 1887.

The process of whisky making hasn’t changed much since then we learn as we move from one building to the next following our extremely over-qualified tour guide. It all starts with barley that is soaked and left to germinate. Sugars are created in the drying process and then milled and put into a mash tun, converting them to fermentable sugars and the “wash” is made.

The wash then goes into pot stills until it is time for the “cut” to be taken.

It’s all about the whisky ingredients

At Glenfiddich, we are told, it is all about the quality of the ingredients. If you put the best in, you get the best out.

If you need proof of that, in 2018 more than 14.6 million standard bottles of Glenfiddich were sold globally.

We are all pretty familiar with the 12-year-old Glenfiddich which sells at the distillery for about 38 pound per bottle. What I didn’t realise was that drops like the 50-year-old Glenfiddich sell for about 25,000 pound per bottle. Now that’s some serious whisky.

You can visit Glenfiddich as part of the world’s only Malt Whisky Trail which also has stops at Benromach, The Glenlivet, Cardhu, Glen Moray, GlenGrant, Dallas Dhu and Strathisla distilleries.

And if you can’t drive after that tour I suggest you book a room at The Craigellachie Hotel.

This 26-room Aberdeenshire Hotel, built in 1893, sits where the Spey and Fiddich rivers come together. The rooms, with Egyptian cotton sheets and Johnston’s of Elgin cashmere topped mattresses, are charming, comfortable and oh-so cosy on cold Scottish winter nights. The Copper Dog (the in-house pub) food is strictly farm-to-fork Speyside produce sourced from within 80 kilometres. As for celebrities, Joanna Lumley is a regular; and Sadie Frost, Noel Gallagher and Kate Moss have been known to spend a long night in the whisky bar.

Speyside is a two-and-a-half hour drive north from Edinburgh.