2018 UK Tour: Mon August 6 - Glasgow to Oban

Keys from our place to stay in Glasgow - the building didn't seem that old but the keys tell a different story.

A little bit of a lighter day. We got up around 8am and headed down to the main room for breakfast - our first full Scottish breakfast - sans the black pudding of course. Then on the road for our first (and most important stop of the whole reason we are in Scotland!) - Glengoyne Distillery. It had rained during the night and was full Scotland drizzle all throughout the drive and upon arrival. Didn't deter us in the slightest. We were greeted for our tour with a wee dram of the 12 year old and a short video. From there Kirsten took us around to the stills and walked us through the process of how they make their whiskey. Note that I used the term whiskey - Scotch is a term that Americans came up with. The scots call it whiskey. True story. After they took us through the distilling process we went back to the store and the other 10 in our group got a taste of the cask strength. We were taken up to the residence to sample the 18 and 21 year old. Since it was just us we got a nice little one on one with Kirsten and she spent some time answering questions about Scotland, whiskey and other sorted questions we had. She was verra lovely. We were quite surprised at how small their distillery actually is. They only produce a million gallons every year. After she took us back down to the store for our taste of cask strength and left us to browse the store.

This is the fermenting room. These giant (they go well below the grating) drums have absolutely no nails or glue holding them together - just tightened by the iron bands you see. These barrels last 60 years. The lighter colored one in the back by the guy in the white t-shirt was replaced last year at the cost of 25,000 gbp. This one in front is 59 years old.

The different bottles in the back represent one year in a maturation process and also what kinds of barrels used. 95% of the casks Glengoyne ages their whiskey in are sherry casks. The other 5% are bourbon. With sherry casks they can get up to three re-uses. Bourbon they only get one use.

Tasting room.

This is up behind the distillery. Their grounds were just beautiful.

This little waterfall was all they used to use for water in their process. It's not nearly enough now however but they still use the water as a cooling agent.

Walk up to the waterfall on the back of the grounds.

Distilling room. Weren't allowed to take pictures on the inside.

These are the buildings they use to age their whiskies.

After the tour (and 4 drams of whiskey!) we headed to Loch Lomond. When we stopped at our destination there was some eateries and other things to do not just our destination so we had lunch.

Kels had chicken stuffed with haggis (he says it tastes like stuffing) and I had a potato jacket (potato stuffed with something in this case mac and cheese). Both were pretty good.

After lunch we had tickets to Sea Life Loch Lomond. A local aquarium. Be warned - LOTS of otter pictures ahead (cause they are my fav animal!)

Lilly, Pickle & Cub - a mom and her 2 girls.

They had this awesome walk thru shark tank that had sting rays and all kinds of fish.

After the aquarium we took the scenic drive up to the place where we are staying the night - Oban. The countryside was just spectacular and pretty much how everyone describes Scotland. The roads however no one describes - narrow and there are absolutely no shoulders at all. You see a semi truck coming and you hug your side of the road even if it means brushing vegetation. Mom you wouldn't be able to do this drive. Even I am finding it unnerving.