We lucked out on yet another fabulous day! Believe it or not, we ventured out of our B&B without coats today! A light sweater was all we needed. That's a first for us, for sure!
As I mentioned, we are in the valley of Distilleries. All of them get their water from the River Spey, which is where the name Speyside distilleries comes from.
Of course, we are not here by chance, so our first stop this morning was the Speyside Cooperage where they make and repair the barrels used for making whiskey.
The tour of the facility was fascinating as well as entertaining as the guide was just delightful!
Would you believe that the wood for new barrels comes from one hundred year old oak trees that grow in Kentucky? What makes the trees so special is their close-grained wood, which is perfect for holding liquid, as well as its pliability upon being heated.
You can see by the photo, that the bottom slats will need to be forced together in order to complete the cask. The casks are heated from the inside, softening the wood enough to bend it into the required shape which is secured by hammering a series of metal rings around the cask.
I was surprised to learn that these casks continue to be made exclusively by hand. And, we were able to watch the coopers busily at work doing just that.
These coopers are paid by the barrel. Each barrel must pass a thorough water/pressure inspection before the cooper gets credited for payment. With this type of motivation, more perfect barrels are completed which is a win-win for the company as well as the cooper.
Speyside offers apprenticeships of four years, and if the trainee passes the inspection, he is guaranteed a job with this cooperage. The last advertisement for an apprenticeship resulted in 78 applications for a single position.
Speyside coopers spend more time repairing old casks for reuse than making new casks. From what we saw while we were on the tour, they work very hard, and fast, to complete as many as possible.
Casks can be reused about 4 times prior to being discontinued. Since Whiskey is aged for many years, a cask can last anywhere from 40 to 100 years. At this point, they wood is always recycled in some way. I particularly liked this chair.
Doesn't Marty look right at home here?
I think we need a couple of those for our front porch!
Here are a couple of other unique ideas for recycled casks:
That is a train made up of several cars being used as planters. How clever is that?
But now it was time to decide which distillery we should visit. Our B&B host, Stuart, had set us up with pamphlets of 5 different distilleries to see, all in one day. Now, that might work for most people, but Marty and I weren't in any hurry to rush from place to place just to see how many we could visit. Plus, I can't help but think that by the end of the day all of the whiskey would be tasting pretty much the same. But, then, what do I know?
Last year when we visited Scotland, we signed up for a Whiskey Passport, which entitled us to free admission to a group of distilleries. Of course, we brought our passports with us on the trip, and I spotted 2 distilleries in the area that participated in this program, neither of which were mentioned by Stuart.
So, we headed off in the direction of Cardhu. On the way, we passed the Craigellachie Bridge. It was built in 1814 by Thomas Telford.
We decided to stop to check out the bridge and enjoy the view.
Really, it was an amazing engineering feat.
Moving on, we soon came to Cardhu Distillery.
As we pulled into the Visitor's center, I spotted Highland Cattle in the field nearby and decided to venture up to check them out.
They were all quite content munching on weeds in the field.
Then a man named Buzz came along and dumped a bucket full of feed into the field. This is actually waste product from the distillation of the whiskey. (Scots are very big on limiting waste and find unique uses for just about everything!)
The cattle were quite content munching away, but Buzz felt that I needed some more excitement this morning. So, he asked me to wait where I was while he ran several yards to retrieve a package of biscuits. When he opened the case to pull out the biscuits, one of the highland cows in the field came barreling towards me at rapid speed.
She pushed aside the other two to make her way up front and Buzz handed her a biscuit that she immediately took on her tongue and began munching away. Buzz then decided that I should try feeding this cow as well, so I reached out with the biscuit, and she gently took it from my fingers.
Generally, each cow is only permitted two biscuits for lunchtime dessert, but this one somehow managed to coerce Buzz into a third one.
Lucky day! No wonder she came running at high speed!
Buzz showed us the package of biscuits that he uses to treat the cattle, and he went on to tell us that they only eat the Brand Name biscuits. No Tesco or Asda imitations for them! Now, I ask, how funny is that?
After all of that excitement it was now time to enter the distillery, where we were greeted by a very friendly woman named Lucille.
She was quite happy to stamp my Whiskey passport
And she then proceeded to take us on a tour. Now, I've been on several Whiskey tours with Marty, but none of them were quite as entertaining as today. Lucille was an excellent guide, and she was certain to make the entire experience informative as well as fun for us.
Cardhu history dates back to 1810 when a woman named Hellen Cumming produced whiskey illegally to help support the family. In 1823, the distillery became a legal facility, and in 1886, Elizabeth Cummings, Helen's daughter-in-law, built an even larger distillery. So, what makes this distillery so unique is that fact that it was started and run exclusively by women!
Some of you may be familiar with Johnny Walker blends. Cardhu whiskeys are used to create them.
After the tour, we were given a wee dram to taste, and also a small plastic cup if you chose not to taste on sight. I packed mine up for Marty to drink later as I found the taste not to my liking.
Having seen enough of the distillery, we headed down the road to Knockando Wool Mill.
This is one of the few remaining operating wool mills in Scotland. It is a very small center, in the middle of nowhere, and I'm surprised that it can be productive.
I will admit that the products for sale there were quite expensive, probably due to the exclusive nature of making them.
The first building that we entered was filled with wool that had obviously been recently sheared from sheep. Next to this area were carding rollers.
this long device actually spun the wool into skeins.
Originally, this water wheel would have operated the weaving machine, but it is powered by electricity now.
While we were walking around, a tiny, elder gentleman approached us and asked where we were from. We were chatting politely and in the process of the conversation, we learned that he was from Edinburgh, but was born right in this spot as he was the son of the previous owner of this mill.
Can you believe that?
He insisted on taking us into the room where the wool was being woven into a beautiful blanket so that we could get a first hand look at the process.
We stood right near the operator and watched her weave several rows of the plaid, which, may I say, has to be an extremely tedious job, as she needed to count the rows to be certain that each color was woven in an even pattern.
Marty and I left, quite tickled pink that we had been so lucky as to have met this man. What a day we were having!
And, it would only get better as we were driving along and Marty spotted a sign for the Inveravon stones. Of course, that word, "Stone" could only mean one thing: Pictish stones, and Marty asked me if it would be OK if we checked them out.
I agreed, so we made the turn down the very narrow road, and within a few seconds, I decided that next time, it would be in my best interest to just say "NO!" The road was not only narrow, but extremely curvy, and there was the worry that a vehicle coming the opposite direction at high speed wouldn't spot you in time to stop.
I held my breath until we were at the bottom, where the only thing standing was a beautiful church, with a chapel, on the left and a stream on the right.
And you'll never guess what was inside the open door to the church.
Several Pictish stones! Imagine that. And you can see that Marty was definitely excited to have found this hidden treasure. (well, at least what he considers to be a treasure.)
I'll let you use your imagination regarding what is inscribed. In one case, I was sure I saw a mother holding a baby, and the interpretation on the board said that it was an elephant's trunk. So, unless I see an obvious horse or dog, I refrain from attempting to decipher what is inscribed on these stones.
Moving on, we headed to Ballindalloch Castle. Marty had actually spotted this castle yesterday and so we decided to check it out when we learned that it was so close to the distillery.
What makes this castle unique is that it has been the home of a single family, the Macpherson-Grants. The family avoided the pitfalls that typically cause a castle to switch ownership, and that, combined with sound business management has resulted in the family maintaining possession since the inception.
Its origins stem from the early 1500s. There is a stone lintel above a bedroom fireplace with the date 1546 engraved.
We were able to take a self tour of the castle, and we were greeted at the door by an extremely entertaining man who insisted that Marty held a marked resemblance to a famous Scottish Football player named Willie Miller. How could I resist checking that out later? Here's the man whom he claims looks like Marty.
Kind of funny, don't you think?
A notable resident to the castle is General James Grant, who was born here. He fought against George Washington during the revolutionary war, and, just recently, a letter written from Washington to Grant was found in the attic of the castle. It is on display in the uppermost tower, under glass, for viewing. It was in remarkable condition, given the age of the document. You just never know what one might find in the attic!
Of course, this castle also is associated with a ghost, known as the Pink Lady. We didn't run into her during our tour.
Just above the entrance door is an inscription: Erected 1546; restored 1850: The Lord Shall Preserve Thy Going Out &Thy Coming In.
Of course, we needed to take our daily "selfie", and what perfect background is this?
As you can see, this castle is very long and I had some difficulty capturing a shot of its entire length.
Walking around offered some unusual sights one of which was this statue of a cherub holding a fish.
Once again, we were delighted by a walled garden full of beautiful surprises.
Another claim to fame of Ballindalloch Castle is its Aberdeen Angus Cattle, which is considered to be one of the very finest beef in Scotland.
The castle sits near the junction of the Rivers Spey and Avon, and the spot is ideal for anglers.
We just happened to pass one on the River Walk on the estate grounds.
I was amazed at how blue the water was.
Also on the grounds is the original dovecot, which continues to have nesting doves flying in and out, although I didn't see any mention of the family actually cooking them for dinner.
By now, it was nearly closing time, so we headed up the long narrow road to the entrance where we had to activate a gate in order to exit the premises.
We headed back to our B&B, then off to dinner at the local pub to enjoy a traditional meal of Scottish Fish 'n' Chips.
The perfect ending to a perfect day!
No comments:
Post a Comment