A short post today, since after yesterday I’m sure there’s no need for more ship stories and since we went on a half day jolly to a whisky distillery where few photos were taken, this will be a quick one.

The outlook wasn’t too promising first thing. In fact, we both felt rather relived that we’d planned an indoor day today as we sailed into the Cromarty Firth and docked in exactly the same place as last year, in Invergordon. Then, we’d taken the tour to Cawdor Castle and Culloden. This time we were going to a whisky distillery.

If you read my blog entry from last year via the link above, or if you remember some of my muttering about it, you may recall that our guide last year was not our favourite. Imagine our delight then, when this time we saw the kilted John McKay awaiting us, for he had guided our friends Martha and Gretchen around Cawdor and we had been rather envious. As we drove out along the Firth, looking over to the Black Isle, he sang, told stories and generally delighted his audience with his gentle humour.

The Glen Ord distillery was at Muir of Ord, around forty minutes drive from Invergordon and with such a delightful commentary coming from the front of the coach, the time soon passed.

Though we were visiting part of Diageo, a huge multi-national drinks corporation, it actually felt like a small, local company too. The Glen Ord brand markets whisky under the “Singleton” name and this distillery in particular makes a product aimed at the Asian market.

In the shop were other local priducts created in two partner Speyside distilleries, one aimed for the European and the other the North American market. It was interesting to learn of the varying flavour preferences of the different areas of the world.

Photographs were not permitted in every part of the distillery, but throughout the tour, our guide Brian explained the process and offered small side-stories to illustrate particular points.

So there are no pictures of the stills themselves, nor of the locked, bonded cabinets in the distillery. And though I paid attention throughout the tour, I’m not sure I am able to offer accurate details of the process either. My apologies then that this is a bit of an overview rather than a detailed description!

It was here in amongst the casks of whisky that we got to taste a wee dram of the product then, offered neat but with the offer of a few drops of water for those of us not used to such strong spirits. Even so, it was quite harsh to my palate and I drew the conclusion that Iwould surely prefer an older, smoother whisky costing rather more than this “regular” one. But then it’s not something I would normally drink and I don’t have anything to compare it with.

The exit, of course, was through the gift shop and cafe/bar, where, had we wished, we could have enjoyed a flight of whiskies and had the full experience. But for us, the tour was sufficient and we’d enjoyed learning about something we last witnessed over forty years ago when we spent our honeymoon in Scotland!

About forty minutes later we were home again. Splendor was looking lovely in the sunshine and we were glad to be back. Sadly we missed Trivia this afternoon with all six of us out on tour, but that’s how it is! Tomorrow, we’ll be in Stornoway and we will keep everything crossed for smooth seas and more weather like this!