16 February - Auchentoshan

Monday morning saw us off to visit another distillery, this one in Glasgow, although it was a bit of a chore getting to the site.


This piece of equipment weights out the malted barley and grinds it to a find a coarse flour called grist.
As with Glengoyne, Auchentoshan buys it barley already malted, thereby saving money and ensuring a consistent product.

The grist is mixed with hot water in the mash turn, producing what is called wort.

The wort is transferred to the washback, yeast is added and the fermentation begins. Although Auchentoshan is a seven-day-a-week operation, there was no wort fermenting at that time. At Glengoyne, which operates only five days a week, there was wort fermenting in the washback and the guide innocently asked Jeff and Alexander if they would like to smell the wort working. Well, they slowly lowered their heads in and snapped them back like someone had hit them with a cricket back. Both were coughing and blinking theirs watery eyes. Of course I had to give it a try and I found that I couldn't take a breath and it felt like someone has stuck flaming matches up my nostrils. I swore I could smell my nose hairs burning. Of course our guide had a little chuckle over this.

When the wort reaches 5-7% alcohol content it is transferred to the still had heated to 78.5 deg. Celsius. This boils off the alcohol and the vapour rises and is condensed back into a liquid. Auchentoshan triple distills there scotch, arriving at a finished alcohol content much higher than the double distillation of Gelngoyne. What this means to the final product would require exhaustive testing of both products, something I would enjoy making my life's work, or at least whats left of it.

I apologize for the fuzzy image but this is the only photo I have of this equipment. This piece of equipment is padlocked by the federal excise people. All of the condensed alcohol from the three stills passes through these three separate chambers. There is provision made for the testing of the scotch to determine the alcohol content.
The pipes leading into the chambers from the stills are 2-1/2 to 3" in diameter and at the time we were there all were pumping out huge amounts of alcohol.

By law the product of distillation cannot be called scotch until it has aged for 3 years and a day in oak barrels, stored in locked warehouses on the property.
The barrels used are not new barrels, rather they have been used previously to aged bourbon, sherry or wine. Glengoyne actually hires a company in Spain to produce sherry and then send the used barrels to them for use. The guide mention this made the barrels worth somewhere in the range of £400.
Auchentoshan purchases used bourbon barrels from the US. By US law a barrel can only be used twice to aged bourbon, so there is always a supply crossing the ocean.

After the tour of the distillery we entered the tasting room for a wee dram or two. Jeff and I agreed, whoever wins the lottery will build a curved, blond wood bar and keep it well stocked with single malt whisky.

You would think she would learn! Another attempt by Louis to sample scotch. I don't think the scotch even made it to her lips this time.

After our tour it was off to Stirling Castle and parts east.

15 February - Glengoyne Distillery & Loch Lomond

Sunday morning saw us on the road with three tasks - find a geocache and visit Glengoyne, a distillery near Glasgow, and see some of the country north and east of Glasgow.
The first task proved to be difficult. The location of the cache required us to travel on private property, something that is usually avoided when placing a cache. We travelled back and forth on the road adjacent to the cache, trying to find a route to the cache that would not involve trespassing. Jeff finally inquired at a property that was close to the final destination and was told that we could follow a particular trail but it did involve walking on private property.
We headed out, felling uneasy about meeting a property owner armed with a shotgun. That unease finally got the best of us and we headed back to the car.
On the return trip Alexander spotted an unusual pine tree that started out very wide at the base and tapered very abruptly. Being the affectionate boy that he is, he just had to give that tree a hug!!



Our second task was easier as we found Glengoyne Distillery. We were a wee bit early so we wander up past the distillery buildings to view the source of their water, a very important part of making scotch. Their source is a spring in a volcanic vent called Dumgoyne, found on the Campsie Fells.


Our tour began in the Visitor's centre with a wee dram to set us up. I was too slow to catch Louise's full reaction to a small amount of single malt scotch touching her lip. The only words I can use to describe her look seconds before the photo was taken are that she seemed to have tasted the most vile liquid she has ever put to her lips. No amount of coaxing would get her to try another sip for the camera. Alexander found it rather amusing, but Jeff seemed rather hurt that his wife could not join him in his enjoyment of scotch. For my part, I was selfish, Jeff and I shared her dram.
For reasons, not fully explained, we were not allowed to take photos inside the distillery; although I did sneak one photo on a bathroom break. I must point out that I am not in the habit of entering a public washroom (or private ones for that matter) with a loaded camera; but this one shot I had to take. The inscription on the blue-enameled water tank proudly reads "CRAPPER'S VALVELESS WASTE PREVENTER No. 814"

At a later time we visited another distillery that did allow photos and a discussion of the process for both distilleries can be found in that post.

One interesting fact was pointed out by our tour guide. The English, for what ever reason, decided to tax scotch aged and bottled in the Highlands at a different rate that that in the Lowlands. At the time of that decision English cartographers were reluctant to venture very far into a hostile Scotland. They set an arbitaruy line demacrcating the division between the Highlands and Lowlands. This line was the road that separted the Glengoyne Distillery's still's to the north of the road from their warehouses to the south. So Glengoyne has the distintion of distilling their scotch in the Highlands and aging it in the lowlands, even though the true Highlands are many miles north of Glengoyne.


There he goes again; this time it his mom. With Alexander if you stand still long enough you are liable to be hugged; although that does not hold true for unrelated girls his age or "slightly older."




The country park at Balloch, at the southern end of Loch Lomand, has a visitor centre in Balloch Castle. This is a modern version, built in 1808. The original castle was built in 1238 by the Earls of Lennox (before they built a more secure stronghold on Inchmurrin Island on the loch.) There is now only a mound and a depression which used to form the moat surviving from the original castle.
The country park itself is 200 acres of woodland, parkland and ornamental gardens with pathways which go down to the shores of Loch Lomand. The visitor centre has a small exhibtion on the plants and animals which can be seen in the area.


Our next stop along the shores of Loch Lomand was the small, picturesque village of Luss, on the eastern shore of the loch. A nice shingle beach to walk along, a warm snug cottage - I could happily spend a few days there enjoying the solitude of the winter season. I am sure it is much busier in the summer.



From Loch Lomand we ventured cross country to follow Long Loch to the coast. It wasn't until we came upon this naval supply ship that I realized that Long Loch was actually a fjord. A bit farther along we found the supply depot with a large tank farm on the slopes above.
From there we made our way back to Glasgow for a dinner and a good night's sleep. As the photo below shows, Louise does definitely steal the covers at night. Poor Jeff.