Highland Whisky Tour

This tour will begin with a trip to the Glen Turret Distillery near Crieff. It has an excellent interactive show explaining in an educational and fun way exactly what is involved in the whisky making process. Glen Turret is reputedly the oldest distillery in Scotland – well legal one anyway – producing whisky since 1775. It is from here that the base for the Famous Grouse is produced. It sits almost hidden in the depths of Glen Turret, where it uses the pure waters of the Turret burn to produce the amber nectar. The tasting tour takes about an hour and involves a number of drams. We will take a quick trip up the Glen to Turret dam where the water is stored and the views are amazing.

From here we will head through the beautiful Sma’ Glen on route to the next distillery – Aberfeldy.
It sits on the banks of the River Tay and is the home to one of the world’s favourite whiskies – Dewar’s. John Dewar was born just three miles from here and started the distillery in 1898. It has been the base of the blend of Dewar’s whisky ever since. It also produces a fine malt whisky in its own right.

We will then follow the Tay for a while before heading North towards the Victorian spa town of Pitlochry. The Victorians came here to ‘take the waters’ and enjoy the fresh mountain air. The Blair Athol distillery has been here since 1798 (which predates the town of Pitlochry) and started life as a farm. The whisky produced has been the basis of Bell’s whisky since Arthur Bell bought the distillery in 1933. It also produces the mighty fine Blair Athol single malt.

It is a very short journey to our next and final distillery. Some may say we’ve saved the best for last. Edradour – established in 1825 – is one of the smallest distilleries in the land but its products punch above their weight. It sits hidden away in a dell above Pitlochry. Of all the distilleries visited this one feels the most traditional. It has an intimate homely feel to it, where you get very close to the whisky making process. The whisky produced here does not go into any blended whisky but is sold purely as single malts.

Having completed the distillery tours we will head back towards Perth but not directly. We will climb out of the Tummel valley onto the wild Moulin Moor where there are stunning views of the surrounding mountains. Then to complete the circuit it will be down beautiful Strathardale towards Blairgowrie and then back to Perth.