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Monday, September 21, 2009
Day 10: Distillery and the falls
The six of us started off at the Dalmore Distillery in Alness. Pretty neat stuff. Pretty much a natural process. Just add barley and yeast and wait for the whiskey to show up. The tour guide walked us through the whole process. We got to look in a couple of the barrels where the mash was working (wee barrels about 30 or 40 feet high). The first barrel/vat smelled like porridge. The 2nd one we stuck our heads in started smelling like the real stuff.The warehouses are big enough to stack barrels 9 high (the small warehouse - 3 high). The barrels hold a couple of hundred bottles of whisky. There were 5 special barrels sitting in the warehouse where we were that were put in a few minutes after midnight, jan 1 2000. You can bet that they'll sell THAT for a lot of money.
John's dad and grandad used to work there, he found a photo in the visitor center with the 2 of them on it. The distillery will copy the photo and get a copy to John. So, I bought a couple of bottles just on principle.
After the tour when they were getting ready to give us a taste, Tracey was signing the guestbook when they said "don't gulp it". So, once she was done signing: gulp. The lady who had given us instructions just looked at her and said, "there she goes doing what I said not to do." Tracey goes "huh?" They gave us a taste of pure whiskey and then put a bit of water in it because it's supposed to make it better. I liked it more without the water.
From there, we were off to the Falls of Shin up past Dornoch. We actually got to see the salmon trying to jump up the falls (got a couple of pictures of that). There's a center at the Falls owned by the dad of the guy who died with Princess Diana (owns Herods (sp?)).
John's dad and grandad used to work there, he found a photo in the visitor center with the 2 of them on it. The distillery will copy the photo and get a copy to John. So, I bought a couple of bottles just on principle.
After the tour when they were getting ready to give us a taste, Tracey was signing the guestbook when they said "don't gulp it". So, once she was done signing: gulp. The lady who had given us instructions just looked at her and said, "there she goes doing what I said not to do." Tracey goes "huh?" They gave us a taste of pure whiskey and then put a bit of water in it because it's supposed to make it better. I liked it more without the water.
From there, we were off to the Falls of Shin up past Dornoch. We actually got to see the salmon trying to jump up the falls (got a couple of pictures of that). There's a center at the Falls owned by the dad of the guy who died with Princess Diana (owns Herods (sp?)).
The way home was over the strui and through the million dollar view. I think it's probably worth it. Normally, the good highways are along the coast. This one through the hills was a bit exciting because it gets VERY narrow in places (Picture below is us meeting a truck at one of the "Passing Places"). By exciting, I mean "listen to Ryan squeel like a little girl 'cause it's narrow").
For dinner, we went up to Tolloch Castle (http://www.tullochcastle.co.uk/) which is supposed to be haunted. Jim and I snooped around a bit for the painting of the "green lady" who is supposed to be the one haunting the place.
Posted by: Ryan / 3:11 AM 
