Glenfiddich distillery at Speyside

There are a squillion whisky tours available in Scotland and almost that many reasons given as to why each is so important. We decided on the Glenfiddich distillery in Dufftown for a few reasons; in the centre of Speyside which is generally speaking the whiskey ‘capital’ of Scotland,
relatively easy to get to, one of only two remaining independently family owned distilleries in Scotland, famous.

Due to the incessant rain we didn’t get too many good photos of the outside of the distillery but inside is where it counts. Here is our guide with some of the art done by their artist in residence. They are made from shingles off the original roof and it is clear Gelnfiddich prides itself on sponsoring art, pipe bands and highland games.

Glenfiddich was a good choice. Neither of us had been to a distillery before and the tour was excellent. For novices like myself the gist of whiskey making is that you first get a big pile of barley and soak it for a couple of days in water to start it germinating. It starts to sprout (yes just like your mung beans at home – you do still eat mung beans don’t you!). This releases lots of sugars and begins to break down the grain.

And it is at this point that whiskey making departs from being a health food. They pour off the soak water, spread the sprouts out all over the floor of a huge kiln, light a fire, bake the bejesus out of it to stop the germination and dry out the barley again. At this point it is called malted barley.

They then spray really hot water over the malted barley and wash all the sugary malty barleyish flavoured coating off it, sell the malted barley for cattle feed (they think this accounts for the high quality of Scottish beef and they are probably right) and set to work on the washings.

First they cool it down a bit, then add yeast and leave it to ferment the barley sugars into alcohol for a few days.

Now they are ready to bring the temperature back up to alcohol boiling point, distill and put it into either old bourbon barrels from the US or old sherry ones from Spain (invoking yukky reminiscences of drinking sherry in Jerez – but then I don’t like whiskey or sherry!) and wait for a minimum of 12 years before bottling.
During that 12 years they lose 4% per year through evaporation through the cask and refer to it as the angels share!

Then so we don’t all join the drunken angels they are obliged to add a little water to bring the alcohol percentage down below the legal maximum of 60%.

Of course 12 years is the minimum age but some stuff is much older and some is later further modified into whiskey liquer – which is much more palatable for some of us though David stuck to the pure stuff served in a ‘nosing glass’.

All around the distillery you can see the raw material being grown - barley for miles!
Back of the envelope maths (done on the bus after drinking – but recalculated in the cold hard light of day) says 24 x 50,000 litre vats running continuously, 362 days per year, then factoring the amount lost in distilling and of course those drunken angels, we still reckon they must be bottling 30-40,000 bottles per day. Which when you count out the muslim world and most of the female population, then consider the relatively small quantities that are drunk at each sitting (compared say to wine or beer) and the relative lack of frequency of drinking it, even for someone who likes whiskey (again when compared to say wine or beer) you can see that Glenfiddich must have a HUGE market share.

I have just been advised by my local spell checker (aka David) that whiskey in Scotland is spelled whisky. But it’s all the same after a few!!