Exploring Glenfiddich Whisky Distillery

Today we finally, after two years of living in the Highlands, went and did a tour of a whisky distillery. We'd been to Glenfiddich distillery before, just to wander around the grounds and have coffee and cake in their cafe so that was the distillery we chose.

The tour took roughly an hour and a half and was very interesting. The statue shows the founder William Grant with his wife.

William Grant built the first buildings of the distillery in 1887 with his sons and daughters and the original building is where the cafe now lives.

We got to see all the different stages of the distilling process and the buildings are very warm and there is a very strong smell in the air, varying depending which part of the process is going on.

These barrels are huge, and some are recycled as houses at Findhorn Eco Village (Previous Blog Post).

This is just the top bit of the barrel, you will see the rest shortly.

A bubbling cauldron of whisky in the making.

This is when we went downstairs and you can see the rest of one of the barrels with our very informative tour guide beside it.

These are the stills that complete the process of making whisky before it is put into casks.

Whisky selfie - we weren't allowed to take photos once we were down amongst the stills.

At the end of the tour there was a whisky tasting of three different aged whiskys. Ken doesn't drink so we got a mini bottle to replace his tasting, and despite really hating the taste I thought I would give it a go and see if my taste buds had changed since the last time I tried it. My first memory of trying whisky was when I was a nurse in Tasmania, and an elderly gentleman who was in hospital for Christmas wanted to share a drink with me - thankfully I got to pour, so mine was mainly water, rather than whisky. How times have changed, as I don't think that would be allowed these days. Even though it tasted awful, I'm glad I did it as it made him smile.

The whiskys were 10, 12, and 15 year old malts.

Guess what - I still really hate the taste of Scotland's national drink.

This is a picture of William Grant, his wife and some of their children.

The stag is the emblem of Glenfiddich and the word in Gaelic means valley of the deer.

Each year the distillery hosts Artists in Residence and some of the art they create is dotted around the site, whilst others are hidden away in private rooms.

This is the great fireplace in the cafe - we had to go in and have a drink and a piece of cake to get the awful taste of the whisky out of my mouth.

I loved these door handles going into the shop - very intricate and tactile.

The shop sells all sorts of things apart from whisky, and they also have a section where you can bottle your own.

A tiny little Bramble Jelly sitting in front off the stag antlers made out of waste wood by one of the past artists in residence.

Family selfie - it only took a few attempts to get us all almost looking in the right direction.

We hope you've enjoyed this visit to a whisky distillery, and until next time, I'll leave you with this really interesting fact - there are over 20 million casks of whisky maturing across Scotland.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Hodgepodge Resolutions

The first hodgepodge of the year and of course the theme is what 2018 brings for us all and what we want to leave behind in 2017. The hodgepodge is hosted and questions set by Joyce at the blog From This Side of the Pond - do visit to see what my fellow bloggers have come up with for their answers.

New Years Day - Happy 2018 from both of us.

1. It's that time of year again...time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, or genera uselessness) in 2018. You can read more about the decision making process and word meaning here, but this year's top vote getters are-

unpack, dish (as in dish out the latest rumor), pre-owned, onboarding/offboarding, nothingburger, let that sink in, let me ask you this, impactful, Cofefe, drill down, fake news, hot water heater (hot water doesn't need to be heated), and gig economy

Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?

I'd never heard of a nothing burger, and now that I've looked it up, that's the one I want to get rid of. The Urban Dictionary describes it as: something lame, dead-end, a dud, insignificant; especially something with high expectations that turns out to be average, pathetic, or overhyped.

One that I would love to get rid of is 'feel it in my water' - such an awful saying and I think it's a very British one as I'd never heard it before I moved here. My beloved would love to get rid of 'at this moment in time', 'cooking with gas', and all management speak like 'blue sky thinking'.


2. What's something you need to get rid of in the new year?

 I really need to go through my clothes and take the ones I don't wear to charity. There's not too many, but there are things in my wardrobe that I've either fallen out of love with, or they don't fit properly anymore, so I must motivate myself to do the dreaded cull.

3. Where do you feel stuck?

Sometimes I feel really stuck in my creativity - I think it's because I'm my own worst critic and tend to not be very happy with what I do.

4. January is National Soup Month. When did you last have a bowl of soup? Was it made from scratch or from a can? Your favorite canned soup? Your favorite soup to make from scratch on a cold winter's day?

Had lentil soup from a can at the weekend. My all time favourite canned soup is Heinz Cream of Tomato - it's a real comfort thing to have it with buttered toast. My favourite soup to make from scratch is sweet potato and coconut.

5. Tell us one thing you're looking forward to in 2018.

Spending more time with my beloved exploring this beautiful land and discovering new things.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

On new years day we went for a long walk along the beach at Findhorn Bay and there was a surprising number of people and dogs out enjoying the freezing cold weather. When we'd walked past the crowds and was much further along the beach we saw a man get down on one knee and propose to his girlfriend - so romantic and sweet proposing on the first day of a new year. 

Have you made any resolutions for this year, and are there any things that you definitely want to leave in the old year? Whatever comes your way we hope that your year has moments of joy, peace, and love.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxx

First sunset of the new year.