Orkney and Thurso Trip: Day 3 (Clynelish)

Itinerary

08:34 – 10:00: Train (ScotRail: Inverness): Thurso – Brora
10:00 – 10:20: Walk: Brora Train Station – Clynleish Distillery
11:30 – 13:00: Tour: Process Tour and Premium Tasting
14:36 – 17:08: Train (ScotRail: Inverness): Brora – Inverness
17:26 – 20:14: Train (ScotRail: Glasgow): Inverness – Stirling
20:38 – 21:27: Train (ScotRail: Edinburgh): Stirling – Edinburgh

My final day, and this was a long one as I was going to be heading home to Edinburgh from Thurso, which is over 8 hours of travel time across multiple trains. Part of the reason I flew up earlier was so that I did not have to do this journey twice within a few days, as it is a long slog, although there are some fantastic views along the way! I got up early and had my buffet breakfast at the Premier Inn before checking out. As my hotel was so close to the train station, I left after 8:20 and arrived in plenty of time. I did have a bit of an issue at the station as the doors to the station were locked, so I could not get to the station platforms. Luckily, a local directed me to an alternative route, which is to the right of the main entrance, where you can walk around and access the platforms without going through the station.

Direction to Clynelish

The train station in Brora is pretty central, and on arrival, the distillery is quite well signposted. As you exit the station towards the main road, there is a sign which points left for the town centre and right for the distillery, so head right. The suggested walking time on the sign is around 30 minutes, although for me it was around 20 minutes. The route is pretty simple, basically turn right after exiting the train station and continue walking straight until you see a large sign for Clynelish on the left, at this point, you will be able to see the distillery on your left anyway. There is a small turn off the main road towards the distillery, and at this point the footpath ends and you walk along a single track road between a couple of fields. The distillery is on your left, and you enter through the car park and then have a few steep steps to walk up to get to the distillery centre.

Facilities

The building makes quite a first impression, perched above the car park and looking pretty modern both inside and out. The first level houses a well-stocked shop, and it is where you start the tour. There are some steps or a lift which take you to a higher level where there is a large elevated bar area, which has a beautiful balcony that looks out onto the North Sea.  There is a great selection of drams available, and some good whisky flights available if you have time to enjoy some drinks. I arrived early for my tour, so I had time for a drink, and I found the bar staff very knowledgeable and engaging. I was lucky to visit on a warm, clear sunny day, so I took my dram outside onto the balcony and enjoyed the breathtaking views which look out towards the North Sea (See pic below). There are probably few places that are better in Scotland for enjoying a dram on a sunny day, it was so nice that I stayed here after my tour for another dram.

Tour

I was on a slightly more premium tour, which involved extra tastings at the end, but I believe the tour process is about the same. The tour was quite informative and I think would be ideal first tour for someone unfamiliar with the whisky process as it offers quite a clear overview of whisky production. They highlight certain “decision points” to illustrate how the three basic ingredients of water, barley and yeast can produce a wide range of different whisky flavours. As an example, one of the first decision points is the malting stage, where the distillery can decide whether to make an unpeated or peated spirit, although it is strictly an unpeated spirit being produced at Clynelish.

The original distillery was built in 1819 by the first Duke of Sutherland to counter the problem of illicit distilling, which was being done on the land. The original distillery has since been renamed as Brora distillery and has only recently reopened and started producing spirit again, and you can see it next door when you arrive at Clynelish. The current building dates from 1969 and is part of the Diageo group, which produces Johnnie Walker, and over 95% of the 5 million spirits produced at Clynelish goes into the Johnnie Walker blend, with the remaining amount going to produce the single malts available on site. They also have a unique water source on site, as they get water from the Clynemilton Burn sits just outside the distillery between the hills, and it is known to carry small gold flakes.

A unique part of the tour was that in the mash tun and washback room, you get a chance to try some of the wort if you wish; they offer several samples taken at different times of fermentation. I have previously tried this at Balvenie, and it effectively does taste like a flat sweet beer, probably not something that you want to have a pint of in a bar! The still room was also nice as it has some fantastic views; the side of the room is all glass, so you get to look out towards the surrounding countryside.

Tasting

The tour concluded with the tasting, which takes place in the upstairs bar and on my tour, there were 4 drams to try, which were the 14-year-old, distillery reserve, distillery exclusive and pour your own bottle. The profile of Clynelish is a very waxy and sweet/spicy dram, which was consistent with what I tasted in the samples. This was the first time I had tried Clynelish, so it was good to sample a range of different expressions. Although all the drams were perfectly drinkable, I felt that the distillery exclusive and fill your own were the best for me, both very smooth and clean with a lingering finish. The pour your own had a bit more spicy profile, which you would expect from a cask strength option at 57%. Although it was close, I did slightly prefer the distillery exclusive; it was around £35 cheaper than the pour your own, with a similar flavour profile but just a little smoother on the finish.

Returb trip to Edinburgh

The train journey back from Brora is quite long, as I headed for Inverness, then caught the Glasgow train to Stirling before getting a direct train back to Edinburgh. However, it is probably one of the most scenic train journeys in the country, and as it was a perfect sunny day, it was ideal for appreciating the local landscapes. One negative was that it was boiling and my train had no windows or air conditioning (not usually a problem in Scotland!), so it was a bit toasty in the train and I was glad I had bought a cold drink before getting on the train! The total train time for today was almost 9 hours, which is why I was glad I got a flight up to Orkney originally. I do have to say all of my trains arrived pretty much on time; my Brora to Inverness train was delayed by 10 minutes, but only arrived 2 minutes late, so I did not miss any connections. However, I should have given myself more time in Inverness as my train arrived in Inverness at 17:10 and the next train left 16 minutes later, so I did not have time to get food, and there was not even a food cart on the train!

Overall, though, a great few days up north. I had never heard of Wolfburn before, so it was interesting to see what they are producing, and the views from the bar at Clyneleish were one of the highlights. In fact I would have loved to spend more time in Brora as it seems like a very picturesque little place.