The Scotland Itinerary

This year our trip to Scotland should be quite interesting.  I mean, sure, rummaging through warehouses in Scotland is always interesting, but this year's economic issues are going to make things more difficult than ever.  Due to the current whisky boom (really just a brown spirits boom) the supplies are tighter than ever.  Bottlers who normally welcome us with open arms now seem to be just a bit hesitant.  How can they be expected to supply us with booze if they can't even get it for themselves?  The real question is: do they sell it to us in one fell swoop, or do they hold on to it and try to drag out sales over an extended period of time, hopefully waiting out the current drought in the process?  There are plenty of business decisions to think about and plenty of politics to be played.  I'm sure we could make a reality show out of it, but for now you'll have to make due with the blog updates.  We'll be flying out next Thursday and here's our itinerary if you feel like following along.

May 11th - Land in Edinburgh, visit Chieftain's

May 12th - Drive to Glendronach and taste

May 13th - Taste with Duncan Taylor and another mystery distillery :)

May 14th - Taste with Glenfarclas

May 15th - Taste with Edradour/Signatory

May 16th - Visit Oban, drive to Campbeltown, taste with Springbank

May 17th - take the ferry to Islay, cut peat with Lagavulin, meet with Laphroaig

May 18th - Morning tasting with Bruichladdich, PM tasting with Kilchoman

May 19th - Meet with Caol Ila

May 20th - Travel day

May 21st - Meet with Bowmore at the mainland warehouse w/ Rachel Barrie in the AM, drive to meet with another new mystery bottler :)

May 22nd - two meetings with two other mystery bottlers (sorry, can't ruin the surprise!)

May 23rd - Fly home

-David Driscoll