Ugh! I wish we would have done a tour and tasting here. We did, however go to the gift shop, since…read morethis year marks their 200 year anniversary. This place is soooo beautiful and while my husband was able to purchase a distillery exclusive bottle, that wasn't even the best part. The best part was getting to feed digestives to the highland cows. We had heard that one of the distilleries had highland cows that we could feed, but couldn't remember which one. So I was ecstatic when we saw the cows on the way into the gift shop. We checked with the friendly staff inside to make sure we were allowed to feed them and after purchasing a bottle I practically ran to car to get the digestives. The cows were kind of far out so I tosses several digestives like a frisbee toward them and I was able to lure two of them close enough to feed them. One in particular was very eager and licked his tongue out to grab the digestives. Come prepared for a beautiful tasting and bring digestives if you want to make a couple bovine friends!

Excellent whiskey tour, very informative and fun. Highly recommend taking tour with Daniel.read more

Wow! We toured the cooperage on the middle of several distillery tours and I have to say it was…read morejust as good. With as much colour, flavor and fragrance as the barrels contribute to whisky, this tour teaches you just how important cooperage work is. The tour guide was one of my favorites on the whisky trail. She was funny, friendly and extremely knowledgeable. We learned so much about what goes into barrel making and repair, it really is a key part of making whisky. I highly recommend this tour if you are a whisky connoisseur.

We had booked ourselves in for the 1pm tour on a Friday. A lovely 1 hour tour started with an…read moreinstructive video, followed by a tour of a very busy cooperage and finished by a dram of whisky. Seeing these coopers at work and the traditional methods they use is amazing. Well worth the visit.

Great tour of my favorite Scotch distillery. We got to learn…read moreabout the history of the distillery and the process of making their amazing Scotch. In the restaurant I got to try a 25 year old Scotch and was in heaven!

Probably one of the biggest tours of a distillery in the area. The team have been doing it for…read moreyears and they have a great story and a couple of tour experiences. If you visit during the summer months, it gets busy. In the off season, you can get a tour almost to yourself and it's well with the £10 for the tour and whisky tasting. This is generally my go to distillery tour when I'm in the area. Good tour, tasting and schedules.

My wife & I engaged Aberdeen Tours to take us on a Scotch Whisky Tour in April, 2018. We had a…read moretremendous experience. Not only is Karl knowledgeable, but the Tour was well planned out and very accommodating. We were able to add a stop along the way and drop one of the planned stops. We toured the Glenfiddich and Glenlivet distilleries. Exactly what we wanted to do. We had a great time, large thanks to Aberdeen Tours and would highly recommend them to anyone coming to Aberdeen.

Glen Moray is underrated. First, they have a lovely visitor center with many different types of…read moredifferent whiskys. The gal that served us was very knowledgeable on their different whiskys and they have many different tastings you can choose from. Glen Moray is a Speyside whisky so the tasting notes were sweet with notes of vanilla, caramel, dried fruits. All the whiskys were smooth and enjoyable. This was a great place to come for a tasting and learn about their different whiskys.

My husband and I did a tasting here and really enjoyed ourselves. Ben walked us through each whisky…read moreand was very kind and friendly. Thank you for taking the time to explain and share!

We were looking for a unique experience during our recent weekend trip to Scotland and found it in…read morethis unique walking tour. It turns out that Dufftown has the highest concentration of distilleries anywhere in Scotland. Michelle, the proprietor and leader of the walking tour, is fabulously knowledgeable and entertaining on the couple mile walk around town. I learned so much both about the whiskey making process, about the history of scotch, and about the area. Going into this, I had very few expectations but we enjoyed this so much! We ended up drinking more than a few wee drams along the way to keep us warm and really enjoyed all the local commentary. This is the most fantastic way to explore Dufftown - highly recommended!

We had been planning our trip from the US to Scotland for many years. We cancelled twice due to…read morethe pandemic but FINALLY got to go. Although there for a couple weeks, we wanted to plan something awesome in advance in terms of learning and tasting the fabulous whisky of the Speyside area for a couple days. After carefully researching all options, we selected Michellle and Speyside Tours. We arrived in Dufftown in the afternoon, checked into our B&B and then met up with Michelle's walking tour. It was a delightful day and a fantastic experience. Michelle has lived in Dufftown her whole life and is a wealth of knowledge! She knows EVERYTHING about whisky, the region, the people, the history and chocolate! That's right, we were on the Whisky & Chocolate Tour! Michelle selected precisely the right chocolate for each whiskey tasting. We started at her home office garage where we were issued whisky glasses tied to a lanyard that we had around our heads. We hiked through town and the beautiful countryside, taking relevant stops along the way. Michelle had a large backpack full of great whiskies and a several tins of different chocolates. We would stop in front of a distillery, and she would give us all the background while pouring tastings and serving chocolate. It was so cool! The walking tour was a group tour of about 12 of us. We weren't done with Michelle. The next day, we had booked a driving tour with her. She used her van and took the 4 of us to Speyside Cooperage where we got to see how whisky barrels are refurbished. Then we went to Cardhu Distillery where we got a professional tour from the distillery. It ended with a nice group tasting plus a cocktail. Then Michelle drove us to the River Spey where we hiked down the riverbank and had a delicious sampling of more whiskies from the area. Then we went to Glenfiddich / Balvenie and did more sampling and gift shopping. From there, Michelle cooked us a traditional Scottish lunch with amazing food (salmon, venison) and delicious desserts....PLUS - a cocktail. Following lunch, we took a digestive walk, looking for local botanicals suitable for making gin. This was so fun! We came back to Michelle's office/garage, and proceeded to distill our own personalized gin using some of our fresh botanicals! Overall, I highly recommend Michelle and Speyside Tours. We felt that it was well worth the cost. This was one of the best parts of our entire Scotland adventure!

I came to Aberlour as part of a Speyside whisky tasting tour. They have a small visitor center that…read morehas many different expressions of Aberlour. The guy that was running the visitor was welcoming and friendly. I was able to try many different whiskys for free. The grounds are cute and well taken care off. The whisky is amazing and smooth. They have some whisky with high ABV that can definitely pack a punch.

We were hustling to make it to the distillery before they closed. We actually skipped 2 other…read morestops to make it on time as it was the tour we wanted to do in Scotland. We pulled into the facility with about 30 minutes to spare. It;s a great first look. A large chimney, with some classic buildings on the sides and stream. We wandered inside but found out quickly that we missed the last tour. And in fact the tasting times were done as well. I think it was by appointment or the bar was closed but we it were stuck. But then a gal came out from the back, and said she would our us our own special tasting. she grabbed 2 bottles, one was a reserve and one was a single cask strength, and gave us 2 healthy pours. no charge, true story! It wasn't like a tour or official tasting, but it was probably better. We stood there in the back of the gift shop, swishing our scotch around, enjoying the moment. We skipped a couple fun sites to make it before they closed, and we were glad we did.

There are places where locals get their share of booze and then there is Macallan. Perhaps the most…read moretouristic distillery in the entire country, as no sane Scot would pay a visit here. Overpriced, commercial scotch owned by a big conglomerate? That's a perfect place for Americans to grab a drink! With all that out of the way, it has to be said that the newly constructed distillery is a piece of art. Integrated into the hills of Craigellachie, this sustainable architecture is a wonder to behold, if you don't have a sip so scotch. The atmosphere inside is modern with very kind people working throughout. It's much more equivalent to coming into a Michelin starred restaurant than most distilleries in Scotland. Yet, the original house, pictured on every Maccallan bottle still stands on the grounds and is an architectural wonder no less than the modern building. The tastings are extremely well arranged with deep knowledge among the staff and many touring opportunities. The vault is a very cool place. The staff even went above and beyond calling our hotel to arrange some food to be ready in the room after enjoying all the drinks. While this experience is without a question crafted by a major commercial entity, it is absolutely worth the visit to Maccallan for the architecture, vast tastings and a carefully assembled team who go above and beyond.

Ok, I'll start by saying that this place is visually impressive on another level, but that's where…read morethe pros end. We arrived on a cold rainy day, and from the parking lot and it was unclear which direction to go in to get to the entrance. We figured it out, but with the weather it was not nice to be in the elements so long between the parking lot and the lobby. We were greeted by an attendant who checked us in and we had a chance to look around before our tour started. When the tour started the guests were provided a "cocktail" which was a mix of whisky and too much vermouth. Since I was driving I was giving a glass of house made peach soda, which wasn't bad. We were informed by our guide, Collum, that their video projector was down and he would have to provide the history of The Macallan the old fashioned way, by mouth. This was frustrating since the tour was supposed to be a visual marvel. This tour was the most expensive of the local options and we could have simply read the plaques instead of listening to him paraphrase. When we got to the distillery he gave the shortest talk on how whisky is made and distilled I've ever heard. Given all the money they spent on grand high ceilings and renewable energy, the small lit up table showing the stages of production was underwhelming. Nothing against Collum, he was friendly and engaging, but the whole place wreaks of pretension, and it is definitely not worth it. Save your money and take a tour somewhere else. We were given some Macallan glasses to make up for part of the tour being unavailable, but I can't say it was an even trade. I will add, that I am not a whisky drinker, but their 18 year old Colour Collection was served as part of the tasting and that was one of the better whiskies I ever gotten to sample.