Wednesday Oct 4 - We fly from London to Inverness, Scotland to begin our brief visit to Scotch whisky country. Our driver picked us up at the airport and took us to our first whisky venue, Tomatin Distillery.

Tomatin was founded in 1897. Although it closed briefly in the early 20th century, by 1950 they began increasing production on excellent Scotch whisky. The distillery is actually located in the company town of Tomatin which houses many of the employees in company housing. During the tasting, we were able to enjoy their 36 year old whisky which won best in show at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. After the tasting, we drove on further south to Craigellachie near Speyside to check into the historic Craigellachie Hotel. Prior to dinner, we were treated to a masterclass in Scotch whisky in the hotel's Quaich Bar. The bar has in excess of 600 labels to sample, reportedly the second largest collection in Scotland. Following the tasting, we retreated to private dining room for a delicious Scottish meal.

Thursday Oct 5 - Our first visit was to Speyside Cooperage that makes the barrels so important to Scotch whisky production. A very interesting process to produce the barrels. The company has a number of cooperages located in Scotland and other countries, including the US. This particular site, makes 3-4000 new barrels per year, but because the barrels are so valuable, many producers of Scotch and other libations send their barrels back to Speyside for repair or refurbishing. This business sees about 190,000 used barrels a year come through.

We continued on to Glenfiddich, founded in 1887, the distillery has thrived through five generations of the founding family. The facility was massive and very interesting. We were led on a very informative tour of the distillery, followed by a tasting of the four labels that are routinely exported to the US. After the tasting, we had another wonderful lunch. We next traveled to Cragganmore Distillery where being a little travel weary, we declined a tour of the facility but gladly sampled their products. We had dinner based on traditional Scottish produce in the hotel's Spey Inn.

Friday Oct 5 - We checked out of our hotel and headed south toward Edinburgh. Our first stop was at Blair Castle. A wonderfully preserved old castle, construction was started in 1269. It is the ancient seat of Dukes of Atholl. Placed in a charitable trust in 1996 for inheritance tax reasons, the current owner is the 11th Duke of Atholl, but on acquiring ownership, the Duke made clear he would not leave his home in South Africa. The castle is a treasure trove of artifacts, furniture, art work and firearms, all authentic. Leaving Blair Castle, we traveled a short distance to Fonab Castle for lunch. Built in 1892, Fonab Castle is designated as a listed building. However, several years ago it was refurbished into a luxury hotel with fine dining. Our dining venues at the castle were fascinating, flying saucer-like cubicles. The Lock Faskally is in the valley below the hotel. After lunch we headed for Edinburgh