Day Five was a day spent mostly in transit and with little photographic evidence of its occurrence. Let it be said that it was again an exceedingly long day: we left the Islay Hotel before 6am and ended the evening in Glasgow. Day Five was an exercise in keeping our tempers, adjusting our plans, and forever questing for a proper American cheeseburger in Scotland.
And, of course, we managed to fit a distillery into the mix.
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| Auchentoshan |
We took quite an early ferry out of Port Askaig on Islay. It was almost a good thing that we left so early, because it really didn't leave us any time to feel badly about leaving, as we were too tired and cracked out to feel real emotions. The ferry ride back was a bit more eventful than the one to Islay: the water was choppy (I saw our tiny Jura ferry rollicking about as we left Islay and was thankful that we were on a large solid sort of boat) and the ferry was far more run down. We apparently had gotten the "good" ferry on our way over, and this one was lacking a certain something.
Our plan for Day Five was to drive from Kennacraig to the port for the ferry to Arran, and take a quick tour through the distillery there. We called it island hopping, and it felt almost Caribbean to refer to it as such. The drive from Kennacraig to the ferry was not long, but it was a bit less fun than the first time about, probably because we were tired (but not in the excited jet lag way), sad at leaving Islay and E was sick. We didn't claw each other's eyes out or anything, but it was far from anyone's favorite part of the journey.
We arrived at the dock for the Arran ferry, whose docking point was even less grand than the Kennacraig terminal. I looked out the window and fingered the vial of Dramamine in my purse nervously. The water, sky and clouds were a uniform shade of steely gray, and the waves were lashing themselves against the dock in what seemed like a needlessly ferocious manner. I gulped slightly and hoped that the Arran ferry was built more along the lines of the Islay ferry than the Jura one.
My fears proved unnecessary, as a helpful sign informed us that, due to adverse weather, the ferry had been diverted to Tarbert. Several minutes later as my poor phone laboriously attempted to Google in the Scotch countryside, we decided that a diversion to Tarbert would put us unacceptably behind schedule, particularly if there was a risk that we'd end up stuck on Arran (which, looking at the sea, seemed likely).
We made up our minds to press onward to Glasgow (which worked out ok - "Eight Days, Eight Distilleries, Three Castles" doesn't have the same ring to it) and push up our visit to Auchentoshan, which we had planned to do the next morning.
Auchentoshan is a distillery right outside Glasgow. It seems like the city somewhat grew up around the distillery, and it has remained delightfully the same for several generations. The genealogy of distilleries can be somewhat confusing (and fascinating) since most are now owned by conglomerates. I'm not sure how many, if any, distilleries in Scotland are still independently owned and operated. E, if you're reading this, please feel free to correct me. Diageo, which is a giant liquor corporation, owns many distilleries, including Lagavulin and Caol Ila (both on Islay) and Blair Athol. Most other distilleries have "sister" distilleries - as I mentioned earlier, Auchentoshan and Bowmore are owned by the same group. It's really rather an advanced behind the scenes sort of thing and someday, if you're all very lucky, E can explain it far better than I can.
Anyway, we arrived at Auchentosha nwith no reservation or idea of when we might be able to take a tour. Luckily, one was occurring shortly. Even more so than Bowmore, Auchentoshan gave the vibe of a sleek IKEA distillery. Everything seemed modern and youthful to me. The decor was all light woods, gray and orange.
Our tour was fairly standard and our tour guide (who I think was named Magda?) was something of a disappointment after the characters we'd encountered on Islay. She was proficient and charming enough, but seemed much more urban. Had she waxed rhapsodic over a peat fire, I would've laughed right in her face. Since it was a Saturday, the distillery was not functional, but we enjoyed traipsing around none the less.
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| More panoramas by E. I think this one is quite neat. |
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| Auchentoshan triple distills their whisky - more like Ireland - so it tastes quite smooth. |
I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed the Auchentoshan whisky. It was so different from the Islays (because no peat) but I enjoyed it on quite a different level. The other two women we were on the tour with could barely drink their samples, which was rather amusing. But it was a pleasant surprise in terms of deliciousness, and I found myself saddened that it was my second to last distillery.
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