Scotland Travelogue 5/18 (Day 2) Part 1

Rose at 7 AM. It was a refreshing morning like a highland, slightly chilly but clear. However, it rained again. (Laugh) I had a Full Scottish Breakfast at Creag Ratha Hotel. Although I get tired of eating it frequently, the Scottish breakfast after a long time was delicious! *First Full Scottish Breakfast in a while* In the morning, I decided to drive around Dufftown and visit distilleries. The same road at night and day is completely different. From Creag Ratha to Dufftown, the vast and wild Scottish landscape spread out. *Desolate land with mist adding to the Scottish atmosphere.* *Only sheep are occasionally seen. Fences are sometimes missing, so they're almost free-range.* Dufftown turned out to be a smaller town than I imagined. *Dufftown's town center with a clock tower in the middle.* There are many distilleries packed within this area, including Glenfiddich, Balvenie, Dufftown, and Mortlach. Due to time constraints, I could only confirm locations and view exteriors at most distilleries (as many require reservations for access, and some don't allow general visitors). However, at Glenfiddich, I managed to do hand bottling. It was a 2001 distillation refill sherry cask for £125, not cheap at all. I couldn't taste it, so I bought just one bottle, but it became a good souvenir. *Glenfiddich Distillery* *Hand bottling here. Exactly 700ml comes out with one handle operation.* Afterwards, I went to Glenlivet, a bit further from Dufftown. The distillery appeared suddenly in the rugged mountain area. As expected for a high production volume distillery, it was quite large and clean. The visitor center was well-equipped with a restaurant attached. I impulsively bought the 24-year-old sherry cask hand bottling, which was extremely expensive. It had a rare and intoxicating sherry flavor, confirming my previous insistence that Glenlivet's special casks are often exceptional. The bourbon cask was very fruity, reminiscent of early Nadurra, but I hesitated to buy it slightly due to its woody notes. Although not too expensive, I decided to save a bit as the numbers and prices could get out of hand later. By the way, Glenlivet's hand bottling involves pre-filled bottles with whisky, where buyers create original labels and apply caps. Previously, they started from bottling, but perhaps due to time and labor constraints. This is similar across hand bottling services, but tax regulations require recording bottle numbers and alcohol content on distillery documents with each purchase, making it a time-consuming process even without bottling. *Since the bottles were already filled, the hand bottling device was just decorative.* I took a walk around Glenlivet, up to the source of its mother water, the Jossie's Well. It was very pleasant. There was a large-scale construction nearby, suggesting something would be built there, likely related to increased production. Incidentally, I stopped by Macallan on the way and found it under major construction as expected. Although aware of recent trends in increased Scotch production, seeing it firsthand was a revelation. To be continued in Part 2.