Day 4: The Spirit of Speyside Festival (Mortlach Distillery).

My Itinerary

08:56 – 09:43: Train (Scotrail: Aberdeen): Inverness – Elgin
10:19 – 11:08: Bus (Stagecoach 36: Dufftown): Elgin Bus Station – Glenfiddich Distillery (Dufftown)
11:30 – 12:45: Malt Barn Bar (Glenfiddich Distillery)
12:45 – 13:15: Walk to Mortlach Distiller
13:30 – 15:30: Mortlach Distillery Tour
17:15 – 18:00: Bus (Stagecoach 36: Elgin): Dufftown Clock Tower – Duff Avenue (Elgin)
18:53 – 19:39: Train (ScotRail: Inverness): Elgin – Inverness
20:30 – 00:05: Bus (Megabus M90: Edinburgh): Inverness Bus Station – Edinburgh Bus Station

Inverness

Today was the last day of my travels, and I was heading to my favourite whisky region of Speyside to the much-talked-about Spirit of Speyside festival. I woke up even earlier this morning for an early morning run. I am currently training for a half-marathon, and after several days of whisky and no running, I decided I needed to get some exercise done.  I ran along the River Ness, and it was ideal running conditions and a super nice route for running, so it was a great start to the day. After I got back to the hotel and showered, I had the buffet breakfast and then headed for my train to  Elgin.

My Mortlach tour was not booked until 13:30, but the later bus connection looked a bit tight, so I decided to head to Dufftown early to avoid any unnecessary stress. I got the 9 am train, which was quite busy but arrived on time, and then had a 10-minute walk from the train station to the Elgin bus station.

I reckon the Elgin bus station gets worse every time I see it, don’t think I have ever seen the TV monitor showing the bus information actually working, and it’s a bit run down. I waited for my bus, and waited some more, and was soon very glad I had decided to travel earlier. The bus arrived over 10 minutes late and was then delayed further because they had to switch buses due to a technical fault. We ended up around 15 minutes behind schedule, which was fine for me as my tour was not until later, but it might have made things tight if I had gone for the later bus. It also meant that the bus for the rest of the day was behind schedule.

Dufftown

The No 36 bus to Dufftown takes a fairly roundabout route through the local area, travelling via Aberlour before terminating in Dufftown. The bus was quite busy from the start, but it became even busier after picking up a decent crowd of whisky enthusiasts in Aberlour, all heading to the Spirit of Speyside Festival.

I got off before the town centre at the stop opposite Glenfiddich Distillery, as I decided to spend my free time before the tour exploring the shop and having a few pre-tour drams in the Malt Barn bar at Glenfiddich. The retail shop at Glenfiddich is very fancy, and I could tell from the “pour your own” bottle being priced at £160 that it was probably going to be a little too pricey for me to pick anything up. They did have some festival bottles available, but at £190 and £210, they were definitely outside my price range.

On arrival at the bar, I was not prepared for how busy it would be, as it was completely packed! Everyone seemed to be drinking not just one whisky, but full flights of whisky, and this was at noon. I managed to find a sought-after spare seat and table near the bar and decided to create my own mini flight of whiskies as the ones on the menu were quite expensive. I opted for the Glenfiddich Solera 15, Glenfiddich Small Batch 18, and Glenfiddich Orchard, which was an experimental cask release.

The price came to under £20 for the three drams, which I thought was quite reasonable, and I have to say the staff were fantastic despite how busy they were. They even give you the bottles at the table so you can take pictures and read about the whiskies (nice touch and very trusting!)). I was not quite as keen on the Orchard, which was a little too sweet for me. Apparently, it was finished in a Pomona spirit cask, which is an apple liqueur. The 15 was very nice and probably the best-value dram: oaky, sweet, and very smooth. The best dram for me, though, was the 18-year-old, which was smooth and creamy with hints of dried fruit, so I took a little longer to enjoy that one.

Mortlach Tour

Afterwards, I headed into town towards Mortlach Distillery, which was around a half-hour walk from Glenfiddich. Mortlach is owned by Diageo, but it is not normally open to the public. The Spirit of Speyside Festival is the only time the distillery opens for tours, so this was a rare opportunity to visit. I arrived a few minutes early, just as the rain had started to fall, and was feeling a little damp when I entered the tasting room.

The dampness soon faded away as, on arrival, we were given a 20-year-old Mortlach as a starter dram. I have to say that was a great way to begin and one of the best drams I had during the day and perhaps even over the past 4 days. The 20-year-old was a smooth sherry bomb, which is very much my ideal type of dram.

The tour itself was very informal, as expected from a distillery that does not usually run public tours. There was a brief introduction to Mortlach and its history before we headed out into the distillery. Despite not being set up as a regular visitor attraction, the distillery was surprisingly visitor-friendly, with good walkways and signage throughout. I believe Diageo had at one stage planned to offer regular tours of Mortlach, but later decided against it. That is a shame, as there are no Diageo distilleries open to the public in Dufftown.

The distillery was in silent season, which meant we were able to get very close to the equipment. We started with a visit to the old kiln, where they used to dry the malt. They now import all their barley already malted, so the kiln is no longer required, but it was still nice to see how things used to be done and see a bit of distillery history.

We then headed to the mill room, where they have the standard and beautiful Porteus mill, which is still in operation. As production was paused, we were able to get very close and even look inside the rollers, which was a nice bonus. It really is an exceptional bit of kit and amazing that all of the malt still goes through this old robust machine.

From there, we moved on to the mash tun and washbacks before heading to see the very interesting stills. Mortlach has six copper pot stills, but unlike many distilleries, they are not neat matching pairs. Each one seems to have its own character: some are squat and broad-bellied, others are taller and more slender, with long necks rising into the lyne arms. Together they give the stillhouse a slightly mismatched, almost improvised feel, which suits Mortlach’s famously unusual 2.81-times distillation process. Rather than looking like a perfectly uniform production line, the stills feel more like a collection of individual instruments, each playing a slightly different role in creating the final spirit.

There was also an opportunity to see the worm tubs, which is not something you often get to experience on distillery tours. One of the worm tubs was empty, so we got a great visual of how the cooling process works with water for cooling taken from one of the local rivers.

The next stop was the control room, where every part of the process is monitored. The majority of the process, except for the spirit cuts, is computerised on site. This is where our guide for the day usually works, and he was able to provide a fairly in-depth overview of the entire process.

There are also some dunnage warehouses on site, and we were able to spend quite a bit of time walking around inside and exploring a couple of them, which was great fun, although you do have to leave your phone at the door, so I can’t share many pictures. They have casks from a wide range of Diageo properties. I saw quite a few from Auchroisk, which I wished we had been able to crack open and try as I do like their stuff!

The final part of the tour was to return to the tasting room where we started to sample four Mortlach expressions.  The first was from three casks: virgin oak, refill, and red wine. There was quite a lot going on when it hit the palate. It was very sweet and creamy, perhaps from the red wine influence, but also very smooth, with a little peppery spice in the background. The second dram was a refill bourbon with a Cognac finish. I picked up some red fruits and cigar smoke, although I enjoyed it a little less than the first dram.

The final two drams were limited-edition releases that were only available at the tasting. The first was a Madeira finish, which had spent 12 years in a standard oak barrel and a further two years in a Madeira cask. I have tried a few Madeira cask finishes before, and this one was a bit different. It was not as sweet as some others I have had, but there were still some lovely dried-fruit notes, along with a gentle richness and a little spice.

The final dram was probably the highlight of the tasting. It was a 21-year-old Mortlach that had spent five years in a PX sherry cask. I am not usually the biggest fan of PX finishes, but this one was unique. It did not have the heavy sweetness I usually associate with PX. Instead, it felt more like an oloroso finish, with dark fruits, depth, and a warm, smooth finish. It was a great way to end the tour, although sadly they did not offer you the chance to buy a bottle.  They did have a limited selection of bottles, but it was not well-advertised, and prices were high, as the cheapest was around £60, but then it was almost £200 for the next cheapest bottle.

After the tour, I headed back to Elgin by bus, but unfortunately, the service was running late due to early morning issues, and I missed my train connection to Aberdeen and onwards to Edinburgh. Instead, I ended up travelling back via Inverness before connecting onto the Megabus to Edinburgh. After a good amount of travelling over the previous four days, the 3.5-hour bus journey back to Edinburgh seemed to last forever. I finally arrived back at Edinburgh Bus Station just after midnight, followed by a 20-minute walk home carrying a backpack loaded with whisky from a fairly successful trip!