Located conveniently approximately half way between Glasgow and Inverness, in the heart of Perthshire, Aberfeldy is the home of John Dewars and Sons. It sits on the banks of the River Tay on the outside of Aberfeldy. It is a pretty distillery, with very classical looks. A large proportion of it’s whisky production goes into the Dewars blend, which is very popular in the US. However, they create a range of single malts, with a delicate, almost floral sweetness.
We toured on a Thursday, on our way from Glasgow airport to our accomodation outside
Elgin. It was the first tour of our Speyside 2024 trip and we paid for the Connoisseurs Tour (which was sold to us on arrival)
Tour Style: The tour started with a short film, which set the scene of the distillery and set the vibe for the tour. We were then taken to an interactive museum. It talked us through the Dewars family and the history of the distillery. We roamed this freely for around twenty minutes before being collected by our guide. He was very formal and eloquent, but had a good patter that mixed humour with the science of distillation. Photos were allowed in some areas, but banned for “health and safety” reasons in other areas.
Distillery Feel: It is a distillery that feels like it has had a lot of money invested into it and the tour reflected this. It was on the more visitor experience side of tours, but I don’t mean that as a criticism at all. It was good value for money and represented a good introduction to whisky for the less experienced distillery tourists in our gang.
Tasting: Set in the distillery bar/shop/cafe, we sampled: Aberfeldy 12 Year Old, Dewar’s 12 Year Old, Dewar’s Double Double 21 Year Old and Craigellachie 17 Year Old. We also were served an Exceptional Cask whisky from a piece of distillery history whilst in the warehouse. Bottles were made available for drivers.
Overall: This was the perfect start to our time in Scotland. It was a good mix of information, great location, good laughs and fantastic whisky.
Link: https://www.dewars.com/gl/en/aberfeldydistillery/visit-us/