Scotland Travelogue 5/18 (Day 2, Part 2)

Continued from the previous part. In the afternoon, I headed to Glenfarclas, where I was scheduled to select casks. As there was some time before meeting Mr. George Grant, the staff gave me a tour of the distillery. Since Glenfarclas is not currently doing malting, I was shown in detail the subsequent processes of mashing, fermentation, distillation, cask filling, and maturation, moving around to each respective area. ※A large pot still at Glenfarclas Afterward, I was shown the process of cask emptying (removing the matured spirit from the casks for bottling), and I was allowed to taste the raw spirit immediately after emptying. Cask after cask of the same specification was being emptied. It was a 2005 vintage, around 10 years old, and seemed quite young, like a refill sherry hogshead. However, drinking it in that state was surprisingly delicious. This must be what they call the distillery magic. ※Rolling the casks and sequentially emptying them into the groove at the bottom right of the photo. I was allowed to taste it directly from there. After finishing the tour, Mr. George Grant appeared, and after a conversation, we proceeded to the cask selection journey. At the warehouse, they drew the spirit from the casks, and while confirming the cask numbers and specifications one by one, I tasted them sequentially and assigned scores. There was almost no time to think; it felt like hitting the balls that came my way without hesitation, reminiscent of a batting center. ※Moving between multiple dunnage warehouses and sequentially tasting them there. I tasted around 30 different sherry casks, ranging from quite young ones to those from the 1970s. However, it was mentioned that this year's selection was significantly smaller than last year, as the shortage of raw spirit has greatly limited the available cask options. Nonetheless, I was very satisfied; it was a precious experience to compare various specifications of sherry casks, including batton, hogshead, first-fill, second-fill, short maturation, and long maturation. Particularly notable was the difference between batton and hogshead; even within the same first-fill category, the maturation character was clearly different. While batton showed a noticeable immaturity despite around 10 years of aging, hogshead was already quite drinkable. Although I had the knowledge that batton matures more slowly due to its larger surface area in contact with the spirit, I hadn't realized it would be this pronounced. Experiencing such things is unique to being on-site. After the tastings, I purchased the distillery-exclusive bottle of 1989 Sherry Butt, thanked them, and left the distillery. Then I visited Aberlour, bought a hand-filled limited edition bottle, returned briefly to Craigellachie to view the exterior of its distillery, and headed to Highlander Inn bar. I had a conversation with Mr. Kasegawa. It was a nice bar bustling with locals. ※The BAR at Highlander Inn. At that time, it was still early, but there were already quite a few customers. For dinner, I went to Elgin and ate curry. For half-joking reasons, I ordered an extremely spicy curry, but somehow two portions arrived. As expected, eating a lot of it caused me to have stomach issues, and my bottom hurt until the next day. (Laugh) Elgin was much larger than I had imagined. When studying for qualification exams, I thought of it as being on par with Dufftown, but in reality, the difference was akin to between Yurakucho and Uguisudani. Additionally, I managed to detour slightly to Benriach and Longmorn along the route. Although I didn't enter the buildings, both left a strong impression of being large distilleries. Furthermore, I stopped by the town of Rose and visited Glenrosie, Glenspey, and Glengrant. Grant was large, while Rosie had a stylish appearance and felt like a cute distillery. ※Glenrosie at dusk. In a dazed state from the spicy curry and whisky, I returned to Craigellachie. Prompted by everyone, I went to the bar of a hotel called Fiddich Inn. It was a small bar run by an 87-year-old bartender, with a fireplace and a wonderful atmosphere. However, I probably dozed off for most of the time due to the pleasant ambiance, so my memory is almost non-existent. (Laugh) #Scotland Travelogue 2016