A Few Days in Speyside

My wife Jacqueline and I decided to start a tradition of trying to go monthly to somewhere in Scotland that we have never visited before.  Surprisingly there are a great many interesting places that we have not explored.  Our most recent venture was to go to Portsoy for a couple of nights.  It is truly a magnificent little town.  We got a brilliant out-of-season deal at the Station Hotel in the centre of the town.  Needless to say, I had to check out their Whisky selection which I thought was very impressive.  

As you are probably aware Portsoy is a town in Aberdeenshire, but is so close to many of my favourite distilleries. Just on the outskirts of Portsoy is the Glenglassaugh Distillery but sad to say they do not do tours or have a visitor centre. At the roadside, they were constructing brand-new warehouses.  It was the ideal town for us as I love Whisky and my wife loves fish – of which there was an abundance.  Portsoy has also been the location for a couple of popular movie and TV shows (the remake of Whisky Galore and Peaky Blinders) and photos of the stars can be found in the local hostelries. 

Whilst on our little break we had planned a visit to Elgin so it was essential that I visited Glen Moray distillery, one of The Whisk Boys favourites.  Unfortunately, Iain Allen was on annual leave, but I had a catch-up with the lovely Emma.  I managed to pick up a bottle from Glen Morays Private Cask Collection, hand bottled at the distillery from a specially selected single cask, a peated cognac cask, filled at 59.7% Alc/vol. 

To keep my lovely wife happy we also picked up a bottle of Ramsay Gin Recipe no 1, created in St. Andrews by Eden Mill.  We had a good catch-up with Emma and I noticed the extensive array of Angel’s Share products the distillery was showcasing. It was really good to see these products and be able to closely see the quality. The good news for all of you folks, especially if in the central belt, is that Angel Share have now opened a shop at their glassblowing head office in Bridge of Allan. This is a must to visit, especially if you have to buy Whisky gifts for loved ones’ Christmas list, whether it is a small stocking filler or something more substantial. The Angel Share shop is well worth a visit.

Whilst in Elgin we also visited the new Gordon & MacPhail’s shop on High Street. Their South Street shop is currently undergoing redevelopment to create a Whisky experience and tasting rooms. The shop was amazing with such a wide selection of Whisky, Gin, wine and Fizz. 

If in Speyside a visit to Elgin and the Glen Moray distillery should be very high on your list. You can check out their tours and Whiskies online at www.glenmoray.com You can also check our Whisky shop for a range of fine Glen Moray bottlings.

After returning home we decided that we should visit the Angels Share new shop in Bridge of Allan. The shop is showing off all of their products including a single malt from the Linkwood Distillery in Speyside. While we were chatting with Karen (the owner of Angels’ Share Glass) she let us know that her wee angels are predominantly filled with a Speyside single malt. Karen even poured me a small dram of her Glassblowers Dram, the Linkwood, it was delightful and did not need any water.

Karen has a full range of glass products mostly relating to Whisky, but she does have many other gifts including little glass angels and bobbles for your Christmas tree. Jacqueline did buy a Christmas tree angel and some glass sweetie bobbles not to mention a jar of their Hot Toddy Jelly – which is an ideal accompaniment to cheese (has a wee nip). If you cannot visit Karen’s shop which is situated at Castle View Group Buildings, 4 Steuart Road, Bridge of Allan FK9 4JQ. Phone 01786 835005 or online at www.angelsshareglass.com.

The range of gifts is impressive and all are of very high quality, go on, spoil yourself and make a visit to Karen’s shop you will certainly not be disappointed.