Aberdeen - Speyside

Today's post will be the longest ever. I didn't want to pack so many thing in one day but there wasn't other option because of the rest of the schedule.

I left Edinburgh very early in order to catch the train to Aberdeen. The Speyside area is located between Aberdeen and Inverness, and it takes 1.5 hrs from either location. Like most wineries, distilleries are very difficult to reach by public transportation. So I booked a taxi for the day and planned to visit a few distilleries in Speyside. That could have been enough for the day, but I also found that the Brewdog Brewery is located north of Aberdeen in a town called Ellon. Anyway, I had only 5 hours to actually spend in Speyside but I was planning to visit 3 distilleries, so I knew I couldn't afford any delay....

My first stop was Glenfarclas. Glenfarclas is one of a few family owned distilleries left in Scotland. I booked a tour that would last a little more than an hour (or so they said). I arrived a little early because there wasn't any traffic. But the tour started a bit late.

Since it was Monday, I was hoping that there would be active production, but the guide said she wasn't sure there would be because the previous week was extremely hot and they shut down production for a few days. I think they can do this because this is relatively smaller family owned business. If they had too many employees, they couldn't have just skipped a few days....

The tour started from the barley grinder. Barley is soaked in water to malt (germinate) in order to create sugar and enzyme (for later fermentation). Then, the malted barley (or simply malt) is roasted with peat. The peat makes the smoky flavor and the amount of peat used in the roasting varies between distilleries. Whiskies in Islay are very heavy on peat and Lowland and Highland are light on peat. I would personally believe that Speyside is in between. Unfortunately, most of the distilleries no longer malt the barley at their own site, but rather purchase it from malters. That's why their first step would start from grinding.

The ground malt is mashed in the mash tun with water. The enzyme created during the malting process breaks down the starch in the barley into sugars. Since there is a best temperature for the enzyme to be active, they maintain the appropriate temperature for the best efficiency. As a result the grain/water mixture becomes sweet and is called "wort".

The wort is transferred to another tank for fermentation by adding yeast. The outcome at this point is the same as beer. The only difference is that when creating whisky, they release all the carbon dioxide. The top of the tank is not completely sealed and it can release the gas. The fermentation is continued until the alcohol level reaches around 10%. 

The signature look of traditional distilleries, the copper pot still, is pretty impressive! Most scotch whiskies are distilled twice. The fermented liquid is heated to the temperature at which only alcohol evaporates (since boiling temperature of alcohol is lower than that of water). The evaporated alcohol is condensed to liquid. This process separates alcohol and water & residue. This is repeated once again (for double distillation). 

The box shown below is a "spirit safe" that prevent any of the alcohol from being removed during distillation before it can be taxed (either by dishonest "thirsty" employees). Different shapes of glass bowls, along with a thermometer and hydrometer are installed inside the glass covered box. It allows for adjusting the mixture of different stages of spirit as the liquid exits the pot still. At this point, the liquid has no color; the color is created during maturation in the casks. 

Here are a variety of casks, such as sherry, port and bourbon. As at other distilleries, sherry casks are used at Glenfarclas for high grade single malt whisky. 

After the tour was done, they provided two tastings, 12 yr and 15 yr single malts. Because the tour started a little late, it didn't finish until almost noon, when the next tour at Cardhu starts. So, I didn't have much time to enjoy the tasting. They both tasted great, but obviously the 15 yr is a lot smoother. Neither one was too smoky. As soon as I finish the tasting, I moved to Cardhu, but I was late by 10 minutes. Unfortunately, I didn't make it and the next tour (and only slot for the remainder of the day) started at 1:00 pm. In order to accommodate this change, I had to give up on lunch (there was no restaurant or shops nearby Cardhu). If I had gone somewhere for a lunch/snack, I couldn't have come back by 1:00 pm.

However, I came to Speyside all the way for whisky. I decided to skip the lunch and wait for the next tour. Unfortunately, taking photos was prohibited at the Cardhu distillery for the safety reasons. Because of the extremely flammable nature of the product, they would not take a chance of causing a fire as the result of a camera flash.

Cardhu is a larger distillery than Glenfarclas. Although Glenfarclas skipped the production last week because of the weather, Cardhu did have a production then. Cardhu provides 75 percent of their single malt whisky to Johnny Walker (Johnny Walker blends different single malt whiskies from various distilleries) but Cardhu doesn't know what percentage of Johnny Walker is Cardhu's whisky, only that "there's a little bit of Cardhu in every bottle of Johnny Walker".

They offer different types of tasting tours and I chose the one that comes with six whiskies with tasting instruction, called the Cardhu Collection Tour. Of the six, three are blended whiskies and three are single malts. Also, it included one bonus whisky, which is matured in "mystery" casks, but the guide guessed that might be rum.  Finally, in the tasting room, they allowed photos! My favorite was single malt 18yr. Again, not much smokiness.  

After Cardhu, I didn't have much time left, but I tried to stop by at Strathisla for a drop-in tasting. Unlike most wineries in California, not many distilleries accept walk-ins. I had checked beforehand to confirm that they accepted walk-ins. Just as Cardhu considers itself to be the "heart" of Johnny Walker, Strathisla is the "home" to Chivas Regal. So, I was expecting a large distillery with a fancy tasting room. But I didn't find that much difference from Glenfarclas or Cardhu. I tasted two single malts, the Strathisla 17yr and 26yr. Although there's no doubt that 26 yr is better, the 17yr is richer and more rounded than most whiskys. Besides, the 26yr was 140 British Pounds. So, I purchased the 17yr, which is 40 British Pounds.

I spent only 20min at Strathisla and left back to Aberdeen. My next appointment was at 6:00pm at Brewdog. As soon as I had checked in the hotel, I took a cab and left for more alcohol..... 

I first found Brewdog from a TV show called "Brew Dogs" on the Esquire channel. The two very cocky guys (founders of Brewdog) are the hosts of the show and they visit different breweries in the around world, making unique beers at each stop.

Unlike the tours at the distilleries, this tour at Brew Dogs was very casual. At the beginning of the tour, they serve the first beer to taste. This is also their headquarters and they took us through the offices as well. Their office has a very open layout and looks like an IT startup office. There was a list of their mottoes. I like "We blow shit up" as a food scientist. If they are not happy with the quality, they don't try to save it, but simply discard it and start over. I'm happy to know that quality is very high in their list of priorities. 

Their tanks are painted. Very cocky, in keeping with the attitude of the founders...

We had the second beer tasting during the tour. At the end of the tour, they provided two more tastings. The one on the left (photo below) is a test batch with different combination of hops. 

Out of the four samples I tasted on the tour, my favorite was "5AM Saint", which wasn't very hoppy but well balanced. I purchased an additional glass at the bar after the tour.

I also found out that Brewdog is also "incubating" a sister company called "Lone Wolf" that is trying to get into spirits, such as gin and whisky. It's still in the developmental stages. I'm sure they will make fantastic gin because gins can be creative with different botanicals. However, I hope they don't get too "creative" in whisky because what I love about whisky is the simplicity in the flavor and perfection of creating complexity with only a few ingredients (barley, water and yeast).

 

I don't know how much alcohol I took into my stomach today. But surprisingly, I didn't get drunk. Probably because I had enough time between drinks? Anyway, an extremely "Alcoholic' day....