This visit was part of a press trip I ‘attended’ on behalf of Visit Aberdeen for FoodFest15 (www.foodfest15.com). FoodFest15 is Aberdeenshire’s take on ‘The Year Of Food & Drink Scotland’ 2015 – and if it’s anything like the experience I had, a grand old time it shall be for anyone who goes. It runs all the way through January to December, though I only showed up for a few days at the end of June. As far as I’m concerned, it’s ALWAYS the year of food and drink – I don’t care where I am, or what year it is. Anyway, I shall now talk about the place you can see before you…
Glen Garioch (pronounced ‘Geery’… as in ‘cheery geery’ in the Doric dialect of Aberdeen) is one of the oldest whisky distilleries in Scotland – supposedly dating back to 1797 (though varying dates are given as to the actual founding of the distillery). Originally a brewery and a tannery, before someone got the bright idea of making harder stuff there, Glen Garioch is also the most Easterly of Scotland’s distilleries.
Based on the outskirts of the historic old market town of Oldmeldrum, the site occupies an entire road, with its bonded warehouse on one side, and the distillery proper on the other. The surrounding area (‘the valley of the Garioch’) is supposedly is known as ‘the granary of Aberdeenshire’ – a good place for the malt that goes into said delicious delicious whisky. We got to do the distillery tour as part of the trip, which is highly legit and gives you the chance to try a bunch of their lesser known, rarer expressions. Other things to doinclude bottling your own (straight from the cask – and it tastes fucking SPECTACULAR)
Their cask strength Founder’s Reserve is one of the very first whiskies I ever tried and it entirely melted my face. I’ll never forget it. I certainly wasn’t ready for it back then, but returning about 4 years later was a different story entirely 😀 Fun fact – they closed in 1995 (reopening again in 1997) and the ‘Vintage 1995’ was last Glen