A day trip to GlenAllachie Distillery

Itinerary

06:30 – 08:56 – Train ScotRail (Aberdeen): Edinburgh – Aberdeen
10:08 – 11:36 – Train ScotRail (Elgin): Aberdeen – Elgin
12:20 – 12:58 – Bus Stagecoach (36 Dufftown) Elgin – Aberlour
14:00 – 15:00 – Standard Tour Glenallachie
Overnight: Hotel Aberlour

Total cost: £48.00 (travel) + £25 (Tour) = £73*

Travel from Edinburgh to Aberlour

I booked the Aberdeen train from Edinburgh, which left Waverley just after 6 am, and it took around 3 hours to get to Aberdeen. I was connecting onto the train to Elgin but had an hour to grab some breakfast and pick up a meal deal for lunch before my next train.  I am getting quite familiar with Aberdeen station, and it is easy to kill an hour there as there are some coffee shops and retail shops to browse around easily enough for an hour. On arrival at Elgin, I walked to the bus station and then hopped on the number 36 bus to Dufftown. I got off at Aberlour High Street, right outside the Aberlour Hotel, where I was staying for the night.

Location and Visitor Centre

GlenAllachie Distillery is located just outside Aberlour, around a 25-minute walk from the town centre. It wasn’t difficult to find, although the route involved a bit of an uphill climb. I headed south through the town centre before turning left onto a single-track road just past Aberlour Distillery. This road leads all the way to GlenAllachie.

There is no footpath, so you have to walk along the road for around ten minutes. Fortunately, I found it to be relatively quiet, although it’s worth bearing in mind if you’re planning to walk there yourself. The distillery’s setting is rather picturesque, with a few trees and a large pond in front of the bright white distillery building.

The visitor facilities are relatively new and are well laid out. You arrive at a small shop on the left, where I checked in for my tour, before heading on to the large bar area, which offers both indoor and outdoor seating. This is where the tour begins and where you return for the tasting at the end. There was a nice mix of visitors in the bar, from people enjoying a few drams to those waiting to join a tour. The bar staff are also super helpful and knowledgeable about whisky.

I arrived a little before my tour was due to start, so I decided to enjoy a dram at the bar while I waited. The menu offers a good selection of GlenAllachie whiskies, including some distillery exclusives, so it took me a little while to decide what to try.

In the end, I opted for the GlenAllachie 9 Year Old Fino Sherry, which was a bargain at just £5 a dram. I grabbed a seat by the window and enjoyed watching the weather change over the next 40 minutes. We had glorious sunshine, torrential rain, cloudy skies and then sunshine again just as my tour was about to begin!

The Distillery Tour

I booked the standard tour, which lasts approximately 90 minutes. It was a very enjoyable experience, and my guide was clearly passionate about working at the distillery.

GlenAllachie has had several owners over the years and hasn’t always focused on single malt whisky. Compared with some of Scotland’s more established distilleries, it is relatively young as a single malt brand, having originally begun producing whisky for blends in 1967. It is now owned by Billy Walker, who has had a transformative impact on the distillery. Under his stewardship, GlenAllachie has developed an award-winning range of single malts, with an especially impressive core range.

The visitor centre only opened in 2019, and it shows in the best possible way. Everything feels relatively new, and the facilities are clearly designed with the visitor experience in mind. From the huge GlenAllachie sign opposite the mash tun, which is ideal for a photo opportunity, to the distinctive black stripes painted on the mash tuns in the back room, it’s clear that considerable thought has gone into making the tour memorable.

The tour covers all the basics of whisky production, but one of the most distinctive aspects of GlenAllachie’s process is its fermentation time. The wash is left to ferment in the washbacks for an impressive 160 hours!

This extended fermentation period limits how much spirit the distillery can produce over a given period, but it also encourages the development of fruity and complex flavours before distillation. It’s one of the production choices that helps give GlenAllachie its distinctive character.

Another highlight comes when you reach the stills, where you get to sample some new-make spirit. Personally, I would have preferred a small sample in a glass rather than having to cup some spirit in my hands, but at least my hands smelled amazing afterwards!

Part of the tour also takes you outside to get a closer look at some of the different types of casks used by the distillery. I particularly enjoyed this section because you get to physically see, touch and smell the casks in which the whisky will mature. It also provides a useful insight into the range of cask types used on site, beyond the familiar bourbon and sherry casks that tend to dominate whisky discussions.

The Whisky Tasting

The tour finished back in the bar with a tasting of three single malts: the 12 Year Old, the 15 Year Old and the Distillery Exclusive 17 Year Old Solera Cask Finish. The good news is that I’ve yet to taste a bad GlenAllachie, and all three drams were very good.

For me, the standout was the 15 Year Old. It uses four different cask types: Pedro Ximénez (PX) sherry, Oloroso sherry, red wine and bourbon. Despite this combination, the flavours worked together beautifully to create a well-balanced dram.

I picked up a mix of oaky, toffee and fruity notes, followed by a lovely, lingering finish. It would be ideal for sipping on a cold winter’s evening. The whisky was incredibly smooth and easy to drink, with slightly more defined flavours than the 12 Year Old and less sweetness than the 17 Year Old.

The 17 Year Old was also very good, but the PX sherry influence came through a little too strongly for my taste. If you’re a big PX fan, this could be an excellent choice, but I found it just a touch too sweet.

We also received a bonus dram during the tour: the five-year-old Meikle Tòir Chinkapin Finish. This was amazing! Chinkapin oak seems to work wonders with whisky, and this expression was beautifully smooth without being too peaty. Given its price point, it was arguably one of the best-value drams for flavour available at GlenAllachie, and potentially one of the best-value whiskies I’ve come across anywhere.

An Evening in Aberlour

I stayed overnight at the Aberlour Hotel, right on the High Street and opposite the local fish and chip shop. The room was comfortable enough, although it was a little noisy because the window wouldn’t close properly. It was perfectly adequate for a one-night stay, though.

Since I had some free time in Aberlour, I decided to visit the legendary local whisky bar, the Mash Tun.

The Mash Tun is a popular spot for both food and whisky, and it has an incredible range of bottles on display, including some very old bottlings with vintage labels. Perhaps the star of the show is the wall of Glenfarclas whiskies, featuring bottles from the Family Casks collection representing individual years. As a massive Glenfarclas fan, I was tempted to try some of these older bottlings. However, the prices were a little too steep for me, with the most expensive dram costing a staggering £1,750 a nip!

Instead, in honour of being in Aberlour, I decided to keep things local and opted for a Double Sherry Solera Cask dram. It was delicious: a proper sherry bomb and, at £8, a much more reasonable way to finish the evening.