Bladnoch Distillery is located near Wigtown in Galloway, Scotland. It is a picturesque distillery and was founded in 1817, making it over 200 years old! That also makes it one of the oldest Scotch whisky distilleries, and it produces lowland single malt scotch whisky. I was lucky to take a tour of the distillery at the end of July, and this was followed by a tasting of three of the whiskies on offer. (For an upgrade, visitors can try five of the whiskies, and I paid for the bloke to have the five tastings as he enjoys whisky.)
We were told the distillery history before going inside the factory. My visit was during the "silent tour" time, meaning that the distillery was closed and was not producing whisky during my visit.
The wooden barrels were open to smell what remained of alcholic fumes and smelled like brewing beer.
The grain is cooked and brewed initially in the vats.
The whisky is distilled in the copper vats.
The barrels were imported from America and are bourbon barrels that can only be used once, and they help create the flavour in the whisky.
Our last stop before heading to the tasting was to the warehouse where we could see hundreds or thousands of barrels stored and aging.
When Camilla and Prince Charles visited the distillery in 2019, they signed a barrel, and this is on display in the warehouse.
The samples we got to try included "New Make Spirit", "Pure Scot", "Vinaya". "New Make Spirit" is very strong and almost clear. I preferred "Vanaya" out of the ones that I tried.
The extra two that the bloke tried were the "11-year old" whisky and the "Samsara". The Samsara ended up being the favourite and the bottle that was purchased at the shop.
Due to the Scotish laws on drink and driving, visitors who are driving can not have any taster of the drink at all, so it had to be bottled for take-away. Bear this in mind if you wish to visit.
Leave a comment