Thursday, Aug 5

We begin our journey towards home today with a train ride to Pitlochry, a small tourist town along the River Tummel. By the time we arrive the sky is clearing and it looks like it is going to be a very nice day. We walk to our B&B, which turns out to be a little farther than we had thought. However, the place is very nice and we get a large comfy room.
After lunch we take a cab to Edradour, which is up in the hills above the town. I have been looking forward to this visit since that first taste back in Edinburgh. Edradour is the smallest distillery in Scotland, boasting just one set of stills and producing just three casks a day. The setting is gorgeous and the now fine weather with lots of sunshine only makes it more so. I take the tour while Alex sits in the tasting room having a couple of drams.

After the tour I try several malts. They have the typical 10 year old but the real treasure of their line are the ones that spend an additional six months in a wine cask before being bottled. They have 7 or 8 different wine finished malts and I try several. I really like the Bordeaux finished one and look longingly at the bottle trying to figure out if there is a way I can get it into my luggage. The bottle is packed in a small wooden box, great for safety but not for space. Finally, I have to pass, settling instead for the names and contact info of their U.S. distributors. The whisky is expensive here; I can only imagine what it will cost back home.

Alex has a conference call she has to attend so while she is doing that I take a walkabout around the town and down to the hydroelectric dam and fish ladder along the river. The resulting loch behind the dam and the hills around it remind me of Lake Tahoe, albeit in miniature. The fish don’t seem to be using the ladder today so I take some fishless pictures.

The owners of the B&B have suggested a nice restaurant for dinner and it turns out to be a great place. What a nice way to end the Scotch Tour, a fine malt and great food.

About the images:
1. The grounds of the Edradour distillery.
2. The (only) 2 stills.
3. A beautiful Scots day.
4. The loch behind the dam in Pitlochry.