University of Edinburgh, Semester in Scotland 2011: Dewar's Whiskey Distillery Tour

Yesterday was my first excursion outside of Edinburgh. A few other international students and I bought tickets for a tour of Dewar's Whiskey Distillery in Aberfeldy, Scotland which is about two hours north of Edinburgh. Aberfeldy is a really scenic town that totally fulfilled all of my expectations of the Scottish highlands. It is a picturesque little town tucked inside the mountains and is known for being the capital of scotch whiskey, sheep herding, and fishing. I saw lots of sheep farms and fishermen knee deep in all the little brooks in Aberfeldy and had lunch at one of the few pubs in the very small town with some of the people we met on the tour.

The tour of the distillery was really interesting and took us through the complex process of whiskey production. We had the opportunity to see the whiskey in each of its stages inside the factory (which totally reminded me of that Discovery Channel show "How It's Made"). One of my favorite parts of the tour was when we saw the vats of whiskey during the "mashing" process, when it is referred to as "wash" and is basically a really strong beer. The tour guide said that during the 1800's, they had some major problems with workers drinking the on the job, so they instated a rule saying that there were to be no cups or mugs let into the factory. This wasn't too effective because the workers began filling their shoes with the beer and drinking it that way (must have been a pretty rough job).

At the end of the factory tour we went on a self-led tour through the Dewar's Museum, which tells the story of the Dewar family and how they successfully built the company from the ground up. There was a reproduction of the office of one of the Dewar brothers from around 1850 that had Robert Burns' actual writing desk where he is said to have written some of his most famous poems and songs. There was also a looped recording of the Dewar's television advertisement, which was one of the first moving ads.

At the end of the museum there was a little display on how to "nose" a whiskey. We were asked to describe each of the scents (woody, smokey, rubbery, etc.), but I don't think I will ever be a true whiskey connoisseur. This was reaffirmed at the end of the tour when we were given a complimentary glass and I couldn't take a sip without making a sour face, I think I would do better at a brewery. Although I am definitely not going to become a whiskey lover anytime soon, it was really cool to see the process because scotch whiskey is such an iconic part of Scottish culture. I really hope to visit the highlands again soon!