This photo was taken on my walk around the Blair Athol Distillery. The seventh distillery on my visit has a basic and enhanced tours like many of the distilleries. The way that I prefer to travel with my flight home being the only certain booking, I did not book ahead to see a distillery unless it was the only way in to the distillery like Aberlour in Speyside.

The downside of this is the lost opportunity for a wide scope of tastings at a given distillery.
 If you prefer a more scheduled tour, I would recommend you buy a copy of the book called
"Discovering Scotland's Distilleries" by Gavin D. Smith and Graeme Wallace.

The big question then becomes 'Who will drive today?"

Distillery number seven Blair Athol offered a 12 year old single malt as part of their standard tour. It was a lovely fruity sweet dram that I would be happy to have in my drinks cabinet.

Blair Athol distillery had Bell's Whisky signs displayed prominently. This is a blended whisky that they help produce.

The eighth distillery is up the hill from Pitlochry. I was told that it's a short bike ride. It was indeed short because I was off the bike in no time pushing the dratted thing up. Living in the flat part of Southern Ontario has me deconditioned for this kind of activity. Please pardon the break, a whisky tasting is about to intrude!

Aberfeldy Distillery home of Dewars Whisky

The road from Creif to Aberfeldy was a lovely twisting adventure through the hills. My taxi was a Jaguar so of course I had to have a picture of it and pretend it was just added to my imaginary fleet of fine automobiles!

Glenturret Distillery in Creif

The fifth distillery that I toured was the Glenturret distillery in Creif. There were pictures of The Famous Grouse everywhere. My photos all have people in them, so I will not post them without their consent. When it was time to taste the house single malt, a 10 year old Glenturrett there was no Glenturret to try due to an "EU labelling dispute." As part of the standard tour I was offered my choice of Famous Grouse, Naked Grouse, Black Grouse or Snow Grouse.  I chose Snow Grouse. It was served cold and had alcohol in it. Tasting notes are pointless. Later in the day at a pub called The Curly Coo, I had some 10 year old Glenturret. It is a nice light whisky. I would be happy to have it in my drinks cabinet

The next distillery that I had the pleasure of visiting was Glenkinchie. There is an excellent Museum of Malt Whisky Production located there and I found it to be most educational. The distillery is part of the Diageo pic holdings. If you sign up for their friends of malt whisky program, you receive a very nice passport that will allow you into other Diageo pic distilleries at no charge.  This is a Lowland whisky. The malt is lightly peated and the water comes from a well that is on the property.

Tasting notes
12 year old Glenkinchie- a pleasant light dram with some fruity flavours
Cask Strength Glenkinchie-very flavourful with a bite at the finish due to more alcohol in it

Tullibardine distillery is next to a shopping centre. There is a coffee shop that is part of the distillery. It is called "Cafe 1488" because a king had a beer here back in 1488.  They sold me 3 drams for 10 pounds sterling which was a good value. This was my most favourite distillery of the first four. The malt is unpeated.

Tasting Notes
All of these whiskies' names start with Tullibardine.
6 year old John Black - nice flavours, bites at the back of the throat
8 year old Aged Oak - an excellent flavourful dram with a smooth finish
18 year old - a very excellent dram sweet and fruity with vanilla and spices
24 year old - comparable to the 18 year old. Two very excellent whiskies
9 year old with a port finish - a sweet dram to end with

I would not purchase the 6 year old John Black Whisky for my personal use. All of the rest
of the whiskies would be most welcome in my drinks cabinet.

United by the love of Whisky!
Chairman Bill

Whiski Rooms Edinburgh

 This is a tremendous shrine to whisky. I brought my listing of all of the different whiskies  available in my home province of Ontario Canada. Then I brought out my notebook with my tasting notes on the whiskies that I have enjoyed to date. The third piece of the puzzle was the binder listing the whiskies available to purchase at the Whiski Rooms.

It is important to have an overall plan so that these tutoured tastings help to further the whisky lover's knowledge and appreciation of  this wondrous drink.

After consulting with Emma from New Zealand I decided to try 15 year old Benrinnes, 12 year old Deanston and 12 year old Pulteney  

15 year old Benrinnes:  lovely fruit flavours, a pleasant sweet dram ,part of the flora and fauna series

12 year old Deanston:  a tasty and smooth whisky

12 year old Pulteney: a light coloured drink with traces of salt and a smoky finish.

The  first two whiskies I enjoyed very much and would be happy to have in my drinks cabinet.

The 12 year old Pulteney was not to my taste.  This saved me a trip to the north of Scotland where their distillery is located.

When tasting whisky it is important to keep in mind that this is above all a matter of individual taste. We can all buy fancy tasting glasses and nose our drams until the cows come home without becoming experts at distinguishing one type of whisky from another. The professional whisky taster/blender has skills far beyond me. I admire these individuals greatly as I carry on with my attempt to learn more about whisky.

This is why I keep notes and always ask and answer the question: Would I like to own this whisky?

To help keep track of the whiskies that I have enjoyed to date,  a spreadsheet is being developed . This will be an excellent learning resource for the College.

Second Distillery: Auchentoshan

Auchentoshan, pronounced OGH-en-TOSH-an is another distillery close to Glasgow. This was the second distillery that I had the privilege of visiting  It is a lowland distillery and practices triple distillation. I enjoyed their very well organized distillery tour with a nicely appointed tasting room and a large store. The malt used to make the whisky is unpeated. I was able to  enjoy tasting  two single malts here.

12 year old Auchentoshan: light in colour,  light floral nose, fruity flavour
Three Wood Auchentoshan: light in colour, floral and vanilla nose, fruity and vanilla flavour

Dear fellow whisky enjoyers,
Chairman Bill here with my distillery tour notes. A few short weeks ago I was in Scotland expanding my knowledge and enjoyment of single malt scotch. There are many very knowledgeable people when it comes to the topic of whisky. I consider myself to be an enthusiastic beginner who is committed to learning as much as I can about this wonderful
elixir.

This is the Glengoyne Distillery located a short distance from Glasgow. It was the first of 21 distilleries that I visited.  You would think that because of its location that Glengoyne would be considered a Lowland whisky. It is a Highland whisky.  The distillery is in the southern part of the Highlands.

I arranged for transport and signed up for the tasting tour. This entitled me to four generous samples s of the Glengoyne whiskies. No peat is used in the making of Glengoyne whiskies.

10 year old Glengoyne: light colour, pleasant sweet flavour
17 year old Glengoyne: slightly darker colour, vanilla smell, very sweet flavour
21 year old Glengoyne: amber colour, very very tasty. it purred down my throat
15 year old cask strength: very tasty, sweet flavour with a bite at the back of the throat. The bite was attributed to the higher alcohol content of the cask strength.

These are all very fine whiskies. I would be happy to have them in my drinks cabinet.

Now that there is something to my blog, I will be inviting folks to join me at The Canadian College of Whisky Knowledge. My plan is to chronicle my journey to the distilleries that I visited along with tasting notes on the whiskies I was privileged to enjoy along the way.

United by the love of Whisky!  Here at The Canadian College of Whisky Knowledge we are just getting started with this blog. Our Chancellor, Chairman and Grand Poobah (all one person) has just returned from advanced studies in Scotland.

Chairman Bill is organizing his field notes and he will be shortly publishing his findings.
In the meanwhile be sure to enjoy your whisky!