![The travelers at Scapa in The Noust](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=150%2C109 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=200%2C145 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=225%2C163 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=300%2C217 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=400%2C290 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=540%2C391 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=640%2C463 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=750%2C543 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=990%2C717 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C749 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C869 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C965 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C1069 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/64/d641dc0a-237e-11ef-aea1-cf9e5e110914/6660d2b375311.image.jpg?resize=1692%2C1225 2008w)
(From left) Bailey Feit, Matt Baker, Mark Feit, Michael Levy and Julie Levy at Scapa in The Noust.
![Double pagodas of Strathisla Distillery](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=150%2C99 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=200%2C132 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=225%2C149 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=300%2C198 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=400%2C265 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=540%2C357 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=640%2C423 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=750%2C496 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=990%2C655 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C685 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C794 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C882 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C976 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/35/53562db8-237f-11ef-ba19-0fe6b0b1ab8c/6660d35f219ba.image.jpg?resize=1770%2C1171 2008w)
The famous double pagodas of Strathisla Distillery.
![Mark Feit (left) fills a sample from a cask at Talisker](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/71/97113dea-237f-11ef-825a-af72ad7a41de/6660d3ecdb5da.image.jpg?resize=150%2C200 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/71/97113dea-237f-11ef-825a-af72ad7a41de/6660d3ecdb5da.image.jpg?resize=200%2C267 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/71/97113dea-237f-11ef-825a-af72ad7a41de/6660d3ecdb5da.image.jpg?resize=225%2C300 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/71/97113dea-237f-11ef-825a-af72ad7a41de/6660d3ecdb5da.image.jpg?resize=300%2C400 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/71/97113dea-237f-11ef-825a-af72ad7a41de/6660d3ecdb5da.image.jpg?resize=400%2C533 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/71/97113dea-237f-11ef-825a-af72ad7a41de/6660d3ecdb5da.image.jpg?resize=540%2C720 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/71/97113dea-237f-11ef-825a-af72ad7a41de/6660d3ecdb5da.image.jpg?resize=640%2C854 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/71/97113dea-237f-11ef-825a-af72ad7a41de/6660d3ecdb5da.image.jpg?resize=750%2C1000 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/71/97113dea-237f-11ef-825a-af72ad7a41de/6660d3ecdb5da.image.jpg?resize=990%2C1320 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/71/97113dea-237f-11ef-825a-af72ad7a41de/6660d3ecdb5da.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C1380 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/71/97113dea-237f-11ef-825a-af72ad7a41de/6660d3ecdb5da.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C1600 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/71/97113dea-237f-11ef-825a-af72ad7a41de/6660d3ecdb5da.image.jpg 1333w)
Mark Feit (left) fills a sample from a cask at Talisker.
Each time I visit Scotland, the feeling of being home is the same, though I don’t have any Scottish heritage in my family. The majestic mountains, lush forests and glens, amazing people and food, and, of course, the whisky!
My wife Bailey and I and our friend Matt Baker flew into Inverness, which was a first. Previously we’d always flown into Edinburgh or Glasgow and driven the four hours north, which gets long after you’ve traveled 18 hours overnight to get there. After picking up our rental van (affectionately named “the Tank” for its size), we picked up our friends Michael and Julie Levy from Denver.
Our first whisky stop was the Benromach Distillery in Forres. We’d made friends with their Visitors Centre’s assistant manager, Allanah, in 2022 when she led our tasting at Gordon & MacPhail. She stayed after closing to share their range of offerings, even trotting out a 35-year-old for us to sample. It pays to make friends!
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The next day we visited the brand-new Cairn distillery, owned by the same family that owns Benromach and Gordon & MacPhail. This is a stunning distillery perched on the edge of Cairngorms National Park, and they have taken great care to be good stewards of the environment there.
The tapas lunch we enjoyed, full of locally sourced food, was fantastic. While their own whisky ages, they offer 12-, 25- and 30-year-old blended malts they have created to represent what their whisky will taste like in the future.
Afterward we stopped at Glen Moray. Their hand-fill offerings are so good and inexpensive. We dined at a favorite local pub in Elgin, the Drouthy Cobbler, which provided another example of amazing, locally sourced Scottish cuisine.
On the way back to our beautiful lodge in the country next to the Cragganmore Distillery, there was an overturned lorry (semi) and we had to detour around. We got a bit lost on the back roads and ended up chatting with the custodian of Coleburn Distillery, no longer a distillery at all, but a bonded warehouse storing casks from all over Scotland.
Day three brought us a perk from writing these columns – a tour of Glenglassaugh Distillery. I wrote about their Sandend release in the last column. Emma led our tour and started us off walking down to the beach next to the distillery, Sandend Bay, where she proceeded to pull out a bottle of Sandend and five glasses! The experience of sipping that whisky on the bay was unforgettable, as were seeing the WWII fortifications still there.
The afternoon brought my fourth visit to The Balvenie, which I believe is the best and most complete tour in the Highlands. From the entire process of making whisky, you also get to see barley malting and barrel coopering in action. And the whisky from the barrel in the warehouse is always amazing.
Day four started at Cardhu, the Speyside home of Johnnie Walker. Michael and Julie are huge fans of Cardhu, and it was so cool to see these first-time visitors to Scotland get to their favorite distillery. We stopped at Aberlour that day, then Strathisla, widely regarded as the most beautiful distillery in Scotland.
Then, another highlight we were surprised by was anCnoc. Distillery Manager Gordon Bruce and his three lovely dogs led our tour and subsequent tasting. As dog lovers, it was such a treat. We got to sample standard releases, and then Gordon sent one of his associates to pull some cask samples for us to try. More on anCnoc next time. We ended our day at our lodge, baking a famous steak and ale pie from Mackie’s butcher shop in Aberlour. Best meal of the entire trip!
Our last day in Speyside took us to Benriach, Gordon & MacPhail, and Glenlivet, which is celebrating its 200th birthday in 2024. We dined at the Mash Tun in Aberlour, a quaint hotel and pub with a fantastic selection of whisky and outstanding food. We ended our Friday evening with a pop-in to Macallan, also celebrating 200 years. A true marvel of engineering and whisky.
Saturday morning, we left Speyside and headed north toward Orkney. We had stops at Singleton of Glen Ord, Balblair, Clynelish and Brora (reopening soon after being silent for decades), Wolfburn and finally onto the ferry. We got to Kirkwall and our lovely Airbnb about 8 p.m. and crashed.
Our only full day on Orkney took us by Highland Park, closed for some serious structural work, and to Scapa for a tour and tasting in the Noust, with its new space purposely built on the shores of the bay. The roof resembles the hull of a Viking ship (Orkney was a long-time stronghold of the Vikings centuries ago) and was, in a word, stunning. Both the space and the whisky. It’s worth going to Orkney just for Scapa.
Our Monday started at 5 a.m. to get on the day’s only morning ferry. We had stops at Old Pulteny, Dornoch castle and distillery for lunch, and finally, Glenmorangie for some time in its warehouse enjoying some exclusive drams. We went back to Inverness, said goodbye to Michael and Julie, and went on to Skye. We drove along the banks of Loch Ness (no Nessie sightings) and passed the ruins of Urquart Castle. Later we drove over the Skye Bridge, past the famous Eileen Donan castle.
We stayed in a lovely farm cottage on Skye, visited the nearly new Torabhaig, hiked the fairy pools and enjoyed a cask sampling at Talisker. I love their smoky whisky, and it did not disappoint. We then drove over the spine of the island and hiked to the black sand beach at Talisker Bay.
In the morning, we headed back to Inverness and test-packed our suitcases. We had just enough time (and suitcase space) to get to Glen Moray for two more bottles of their port-finished whisky, Bailey’s favorite!
There was so much more to this trip that I didn’t have the time or space to share. We visited 52 distilleries in 11 days and made some incredible memories. It’s amazing how whisky and Scotland connect people.