Royal Lochnagar Distillery Tour Reviews[photos] / Highland-Scotland
※当サイトには広告・アフィリエイトリンクが含まれています。
We took about an hour from Aberdeen to reach Royal Lochnagar Distillery.
Our tour guide was a wonderfully energetic, unique person and great fun, and it was a tour that made us appreciate all over again the might of Diageo — a small distillery that survives precisely because it makes the malt for Johnnie Walker Blue Label.
Here’s a look at our visit.
スポンサーリンク
目次
Features of the Distillery
Founded in 1845 by John Begg, a local man of means.
Lochnagar is the name of a mountain south of the River Dee, meaning “loch with exposed rock.”
The “Royal” prefix was granted when Queen Victoria bought Balmoral Castle in 1848; the distillery invited her, and she granted it a royal warrant.
It’s also famous as the malt behind Johnnie Walker Blue Label.
Location / Access
It took about an hour from Aberdeen.
We thought we’d change buses at a town on the way, but the bus just paused and then set off again — having gotten off, we very nearly missed it. I’d recommend checking with the driver.
Even after getting off at the nearest bus stop, it’s about a 20-minute walk along a mountain road.
We really wanted to move on to our next destination that same day, so we dragged our suitcases along the way — it was truly exhausting (one of the case’s wheels even came off! lol).
The return trip was from the same bus stop, and a driver coming from the opposite direction called out to us — looking cold as we were — telling us to hop on.
It seems the bus goes to its final destination, then turns straight back around and returns to Aberdeen.
Thanks to that, we got through the December cold in a warm bus.
スポンサーリンク
The Distillery’s Exterior
Up over the hill there was simply a large parking lot and a brick building.
The Tour We Joined
It seems to be a small distillery, but being owned by Diageo, the tour felt really rich and well put together.
At the end we had two kinds of whisky.
スポンサーリンク
Shop and Bar
As soon as you enter there’s a shop, with a cafe-like space at the back.
We’d come up the hill dragging our suitcases and were clearly giving off a worn-out vibe (lol), so they told us to rest up and brought us drinks.
We got to relax until the tour started.
Summary
One thing you feel as you go around distilleries is that no matter how delicious a whisky is, people won’t get to know it without good marketing — and since making it costs money, a company’s funding really matters.
Royal Lochnagar was one distillery that seemed to embody exactly that.