DRINK : Two great lowland Whisky Distilleries in Dumfries & Galloway

Distillery bagging is the name of the game and buying distillery exclusives is the prize!

We visited the two lowland distilleries located in Dumfries and Galloway, namely Bladnoch, Wigtown (yes a town that’s famous for its book stores and book festival) and Annandale Distillery in the bonnie wee toon of Annan.

A VISIT TO TWO GREAT LOWLAND WHISKY DISTILLERIES IN DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY

Both distilleries aren’t too far away from Edinburgh - Bladnoch is approx 3 hours drive and Annandale approx 2 hours drive with 1.5hour drive between the two distilleries. We stayed overnight at a local B&B so that we could visit both distilleries in one trip.

WHISKY DISTILLERY REVIEWS

Bladnoch Whisky Distillery, Wigtown

We’d already visited Bladnoch distillery last year at the tail end of Covid, so it was lovely to visit with all restrictions lifted. Luckily on both occasions the sun has been shining and it really does make a difference to the whole experience.

Bladnoch is the world’s oldest privately owned distillery and is over 200 years old. They have released a very special series called the Master Distiller’s Waterfall Collection, highlighting the journey that their whisky takes to mature its flavours and character.

The main reason for our visits to Bladnoch was to purchase the Bladnoch Waterfall No3 release. We already have No 1 and No 2. These limited bottles can only be purchased at the distillery so it was a perfect excuse for a night away.

The Bladnoch Waterfall Series explained

In five very special annual releases, Dr Nick Savage (Master Distiller) unveils a limited run of bottles each year, exclusively available at Bladnoch Distillery. To cover the five years of releases, sufficient aged Bladnoch Single Malt has been set aside from a combination of sweet ex-Bourbon casks and intense Oloroso Sherry casks maturing in the archives.

In year one, you got to taste the whisky at the beginning of its maturation journey. Exquisite notes of lemon cake and dried apricot gave this stunning first release a sweet freshness on the palate. In each year that follows, the remaining liquid is decanted into a new type of cask for a new layer of finishing where flavour and character will develop further. At the end of each year, Dr Nick Savage assesses how the whisky has matured and decides what the next cask type will be. This means their final Whisky is yet to be defined.

If you’d like to visit Bladnoch Distillery visit their website for more information and how to book their tours www.uk.bladnoch.com

If you’d like to purchase some Bladnoch whisky, visit my Amazon Store - TARTANSPOON AMAZON STORE

Dumfries and Galloway

This region of Scotland is known for its outstanding natural beauty but for me its all about the Belted Galloway Cow - providing some of the best beef in Scotland. You’ll find loads of cattle and sheep grazing in open pastures especially along the banks at Wigtown harbour! Dumfries and Galloway is well known for dairy products including milk, cheese, yoghurt and chocolate!

For more information on Dumfries and Galloway - what to do and where to stay, visit www.dumfries-and-galloway.co.uk

Annandale Whisky Distillery, Annan

This is an absolute gem of a distillery packed to the brim with whisky and Scottish history. Annandale Distillery has a fascinating history. I’ll give you a quick few facts without giving too much away. It started as a distillery in 1836, sold to Johnnie Walker in 1895 before they closed it for good in 1924. In 2007 Prof David Thomson and Teresa Church, bought the crumbling distillery and brought it back to life with the distillery reopening in 2017.

It compromises of a large open courtyard where you can see the archaeological finds of the old copper stills dating back to the early 1900’s. They have a lovely wee gift shop, stunning award winning toilets and a fantastic cafe all sitting alongside a working distillery and warehouse.

The finishing touches inside and outside, around the grounds are superb with beautiful hand crafted wooden bannisters, benches and tables. Sculptural art pieces are found dotted around the courtyard and grounds, near the babbling brook and the horses in the field.

It is magnificent and along with Lindores Abbey has become my favourite beautiful distillery to visit.

Classic tours of the distillery are available for £15pp as are specialist tours including specially adapted tours for those less abled/disabled. The distillery grounds and Maltings Coffee Shop are dog friendly but they cannot accompany you on the tours.

Annandale Distillery has two main whiskies. One is their Man o’ Words paying homage to Rabbie Burns - Dumfries is where you will find the home of our great Bard, now a museum. And the other, Man o’ Sword pays tribute to Robert the Bruce. The Bruce Family’s first castle was built in Annan and although Robert the Bruce wasn’t born in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland’s greatest King has great connections with the Region and his actions here went on to shape the history of Scotland.

Around the distillery there are some lovely art pieces and installations and one thing you will see are some wrought iron spiders (I found two) that I reckon are a nod to our King!

The story of Robert the Bruce and the spider….. after Robert the Bruce had been defeated 6 times by the English, he retreated to a cave. Here he sees a spider trying to spin its web, but failing. Peaking his interest, and sparking hope, Robert decided that if the spider was successful on its 7th attempt to spin a web, he would fight the English again. The spider succeeded and Robert the Bruce went on to defeat the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

The Malting Cafe was formerly the malting floor at Annandale Distillery over 100 years ago. It’s been lovingly restored and converted into a cosy retreat, complete with handcrafted furniture by local craftsman Ian Cameron Smith. Their menu is simple but hearty filled with warm soups and sandwiches, handmade sausage rolls and even breakfast. You’ll also find a lovely stand overflowing with cakes and traybakes and they also do an Afternoon Tea which looked lush (the table next to us was tucking into one) for £17pp.

We finished off our visit with Soup and Sandwich Combo for £9.00. Soups are Carrot & Courgette and Spicy Sweet Potato and Coconut. They have a few sandwich fillings to choose from - we chose the Annandale of Honey Roast Ham, Cheddar Cheese topped with Galloway Lodge tomato and chilli chutney served on fresh white bread. Lush!

This distillery is great if you love whisky but also worthy of a wee day trip even if all you’re going for is taking the dog for a walk and a wee pot o tea and a scone. Put it on your list of places to visit.

If you’d like to visit Annandale Distillery visit their website for more information and how to book their tours.

If you’d like to purchase some Annandale whisky, visit my Amazon Store - TARTANSPOON AMAZON STORE

Do watch out for a new Borderlands Whisky Trail. This will be a self drive tour taking in 9 whisky distilleries in the North of England and the South of Scotland (including Bladnoch and Annandale). Follow them on Facebook for more information. www.facebook.com/BorderlandsWhisky

I’d love to explore more of Dumfries and Galloway. If I do, even if no whisky distilleries are involved, I’ll certainly fill you in on all the wonderful places there is to visit.