Speyside Distillery/accomdation. FALC

[GBOBM]

I'm taking my Dad up to Speedfest at Alford next year for his birthday, but wanted to try and make an overnighter out of it.

He's been getting into his Whisky recently, and I thought that it'd be quite nice to try and get in a distillery tour up in Speyside on the Saturday and then go to the GTM the next day.

Has anyone got any recommendation on which one/ones are best to go and visit in the area and any potential places to stay? Would rather not pay a fortune for the accomodation if possible.

Thanks

Bob

[Shug]

Paging smee, smee to the thread please...

[Corranga]

Don't know about where to stay, but I've toured half a dozen distilleries and I am yet to have a bad experience.

If he's just getting into whisky and hasn't been on a tour yet, and if you're just doing a regular tour and not a specially arranged one, I'd probably go with Glenfiddich.
Sure it's a common whisky and looses some of the small industry vibe, but it's big, and because it's big, it's a great sight to behold. I really enjoyed the tour, which was well priced, and involved sniffing some whisky's in the storage area as well as a tasting and the usual how it's made tour.

If you have the time, the Speyside Cooperage is meant to be a really good tour too, obviously less barley and booze, more bands and barrels..

I find myself wanting to 'collect' distillery tours now, I find them really interesting, and of course a great way to taste different whisky.
I've also managed (none in Speyside..):
Talisker on Sky.
Glen Garioch not far out of Aberdeen
Ben Nevis - Ft Bill
Edradour - Pitlochry
Glenturret (Famous Grouse Experience) - Crieff

I also went to Glen Moray which was closed / no tours, but it worked out fine as we went to Glen Garioch instead.
We called Bladnoch - Dumfries and Galloway, when in the area and it was closed to the public.
So, I guess it's worth either calling ahead / possibly booking, or having alternatives in case a tour isn't on - especially with the smaller distilleries.

[GBOBM]

He's been to a couple now, and ended up bringing back a couple of bottles from each.
I've been on a couple of tours myself and I can't say there were any that were better or worse than the rest. Just different.

I'd quite like to go to some smaller ones, but I've seen that Macallen and Aberlour Distilleries are not too far.

[duggiesmith]

I've lost count of the number of tours I've done, but strangely, not many in Speyside (must do something about that).
We did The Glenlivet a few years ago and was very impressed. The tour guide was local and very knowledgeable (sadly lacking in some tours) and the samples were free flowing Great café too to soak up the alcohol.

I've also heard the Balvenie tour is top notch.

[GBOBM]

Balvenie make a few of my favourites so that could be a goodie.

[thesurfbus]

I like Cragganmore, its a small distillery, but I think tours ended at the end of October.

[graeme]

Look for a hotel in your price range in Aberlour or Craigellachie. You'll be surrounded by top distilleries with good tours, and both towns have excellent whisky bars to spend the evening in. The Mash Tun in Aberlour and Craigellachie Hotel are the obvious choices for dramming, so a hotel within walking/staggering distance of those would be good.

As for distillery tours, depends what you want really... The normal coach-party tours are usually about £5, with a standard script and a dram of the basic stuff at the end, and are all much of a muchness really. Ideal if your dad's never been round a distillery before, but if he has then maybe something a bit more in depth would be good. If you wanted to organise something special most distilleries offer more detailed tours with tastings of the better stuff and maybe a wee sip of something out the warehouse. All depends on the season and day of the week, so start with finding a hotel in budget in that area and get that booked, then we'll see what tours are available. The only way is to check each distillery website for season times and tour choices/prices. The other option is just do the £5 tour and save the extra money to spend in the bar and try lots of different drams.

[cstrachan]

A close to home one for you to try - http://deanstonmalt.com/ I have been told the tour is excellent if you do the more expensive boardroom tour, you will need a driver though as everyone comes out

[tonyg]

Balvenie make a few of my favourites so that could be a goodie.

Balvenie tour is by appointment only, can't turn up on spec.

[GBOBM]

I'm quite happy to book if necessary. I've found somewhere in dufftown that has availability but not sure how populated it is.

[smee]

I just accidentally deleted a huge reply... Doh!

Balvenie would be a good call, expecially if you like the whisky add they do some of their own malting which is quite unusual these days. I've never done the Glenfiddich tour which is next door as I'm not a massive fan but the tour is supposedly quite good. If you want a massive dram bonanza then Aberlour is good but you need to pre book and it takes most of the day. Glenfarclas is quite laid back and enjoyable, the Macallan o would avoid unless you really want to go there as it's just propaganda these days.
I'm hoping to go to the new Ballindalloch distillery next year, a small estate distillery and you can pay to work there for a couple days of you're really keen!

For accommodation it's hard to see past the Craigellachie hotel, purely for the bar which is just refurbished otherwise the Dowans hotel or Mash Tun in Aberlour are also worth a look.

The cooperage in Craigellachie is worth visiting as well if you have time.

There are people who spend weeks in Speyside alone so it can be difficult to recommend!
Hope this helps anyway and I'm not too late.