Increasingly, the high-end whisky connoisseur experience goes far beyond bottles and even casks. A couple of years ago in Scotland, whisky distilleries overtook castles as the most visited category of attraction. The visitor experience at many distilleries has become immensely sophisticated and, in particular, there are often private spaces for more intimate visits as well as clever schedules to ensure that VIP tours are not waiting for large public tours to disperse.
Some, such as Brora and Port Ellen are almost exclusively dedicated to private visits. Elsewhere, whisky companies have moved into the hospitality business. Some have their own accommodation – which may be a well-kept secret for invited guests only or, in the case of Glenmorangie House, a luxury Highland hotel. There are a couple of examples that take the middle ground, available for exclusive use (which Glenmorangie House can be too). The Glenturret’s Aberturret House is one and Linn House – which recently hosted a series of Glorious Twelfth game suppers created by Holborn Dining Rooms pie chef Nokx Majozi.
Linn House is a Victorian mansion in Keith, the Speyside town that is home to Strathisla distillery. It’s also the whisky home to Chivas Brothers and the base for half of The Grand Whisk(e)y Tour in October. As well as enjoying traditional Scottish hospitality at Linn House (a haggis may well be piped), guests will visit two of Chivas Brothers’ distilleries, The Glenlivet and the aforementioned Strathisla. Although the latter is not as widely known as the former, it is where The Vault is located. As the grandiloquent name suggests, this is where the company’s greatest treasures are locked away, and the key is turned only rarely. Rarer still is the opportunity to enter when Sandy Hyslop, master blender of Chivas Regal and Royal Salute, is in there drawing samples from casks. But that is on the itinerary for this tour.
There is also a lunch at Ballindalloch Castle, hosted by the Laird, Guy Macpherson-Grant. After two days, the tour leaves not only Speyside but Scotland entirely, as guests are flown by private jet to Cork. (This is a bit of a step up from the average whisky tour.)
The reason for the Celtic connection is that both Chivas Brothers and Irish Distillers Group are both part of Pernod Ricard. IDL’s Midleton Distillery, where many Irish whiskeys – Midleton Very Rare, Redbreast, Green Spot et al, and Jameson, to name but some – is one of the most impressive places to visit, especially if you get beyond the security gate that separates the historic Old Midleton Distillery and into the working distillery, which is not on the usual tour. The sheer scale of the stills and the warehouses is jaw-dropping. But one of the original dunnage-floor storage buildings, A2, is reserved for the most special liquids, and guests on the Grand Whisk(e)y Tour will be invited to have a tasting in there, including some of the 50YO Silent Still Chapter VI – a limited-edition bottling of the last-ever batch of pot-still whiskey produced by the old distillery in 1975.
On pouring duty in the warehouse is another highly regarded master blender, Midleton’s Kevin O’Gorman, who will wax lyrical about whiskey for hours and is great company – he’s well worth buying a drink for back at the nearby five-star Castlemartyr Resort, where the guests are staying.
The Grand Whisk(e)y Tour takes place 6-10 October 2025. Individual places are priced at £13,000, or couples pay £24,300. Enquiries via email: thegrandwhiskytour@quintessentially.com; thegrandwhiskytour.com
