The Clydeside Distillery Tour
Part of our #GlasgowDayTrip this July
Intro
To Celebrate one half of the Angels Share Clubs’ birthday weekend, we had a wee day out in Glasgow – which wouldn’t be complete without a visit to The Clydeside Distillery – including the full Distillery Tour, a couple of #Flights and a taste of their famous Whisky Doughnuts!
Here’s what we thought…
Full Review
The Clydeside Distillery Tour
Glasgow used to be one of Scotland’s busiest Whisky-producers and exporters, with several distilleries scattered across the city, and the River Clyde was full of ‘Liquid Gold’. Not literally though, the Clyde has never had water pure enough to turn into whisky! That honour lies with the fresh, clean supply from Loch Katrine which supplies the whole of the city and beyond.
Glasgow is producing whisky again…
We are now delighted to say that after a very dry spell of having no whisky produced in Glasgow for over 40yrs (since 1975 to be precise!) almost as long as we have been around…’Ahem…we now have 2 new distilleries in Glasgow! The newest, The Clydeside Distillery has risen up from the banks of the river in the iconic building, The Pump House at the Queen’s Dock and opened to the public in Nov 2017. The lovely thing about this old building/new distillery is that the Morrison family who owns it have a long history with the Queens Dock, in that their ancestor John Morrison built it and was also partly responsible for bringing the aforementioned ‘fresh’ water from Loch Katrine to the city!
Since we first caught sight of this stunning new addition to the Glasgow landscape which can be seen from the Clydeside Expressway or by train as you head toward the city from the West, we have eagerly awaited a chance to visit – now we have – and it doesn’t disappoint!
A great day out in Glasgow!
Tours are provided 7 days a week for a maximum of 15 in one group. Our tour guide Natalie’s passion and knowledge of whisky and Glasgow Clydeside’s history belies her mear 24 years. The tour is excellent value at £15. Lasting around 80 minutes, Natalie takes you on a journey through the history of Glasgow’s whisky production and export, concluding with a tasting of 3 drams from Scotland’s finest whisky-producing regions – Highland, Lowland and Islay. It’s best to book your tour in advance, especially during holidays and weekends as it can get pretty busy.
We visited on a Saturday afternoon, and had a browse around the extensively stocked shop – if you can’t find a whisky to suit you here…then you’re harder to please than us, and that takes a bit of beating! Even if you don’t have time to take in a tour, or just fancy popping in for a quick browse or to purchase a whisky-lovers birthday present (hint hint!) the café is well worth a pit-stop. Catch a ‘flight’ of whiskies to share and sample before you buy – it’s a great way to try something new without breaking the piggy bank, and you might be surprised! We certainly were…Each Flight consists of 4 15ml drams of varying ages -served on a gorgeous wooden platter with Scottish oatcakes, cheese and chutney – what’s not to love! The Cafe staff are just as knowledgeable about whisky as the tour guides and are more than happy to talk about their favourites and give you recommendations if you can’t make up your mind.
Our Flights of Fancy
So…we chose 2 ‘Flights’ between 3 of us…
The Moonraker – Tomintoul 16yo, Dalwhinnie 15yo, Jura 16yo, and a Lagavulin 16yo
&
The Martingale – Auchentoshan 18yo, Balvenie 17yo, Talisker 18yo, and a Bowmore 18yo
What we thought
Now between the 3 of us, we had our favourites and our ‘not so’ favourites – or so we thought! What surprised all of us, was that although the ones we knew we already liked, we still really like, but a couple we didn’t expect to enjoy really surprised and delighted us. Take the Bowmore and the Lagavulin for instance – until now none of us was overly keen on the seriously peaty/smoky flavours that we had tried previously from these Islay malts. However, maybe it was down to the ages compared to what we had tasted in the past, or the cheese and oatcakes tickling our palates, but these 18 and 16-year-old malts were a delightful surprise! Although still noticeably smoky/peaty on the nose, this didn’t overwhelm the warm, rich flavours coming through on the palate – next stop Islay?!
Did I mention the Doughnuts?
And did I mention the doughnuts? As well as serving up a full lunchtime menu of soups, sandwiches and sharing platters – all of which looked extremely appetising, after our ‘Flights’ with cheese and oatcakes, we really needed a bit of a sugar-hit! As well as the usual suspects of homebaked scones, caramel shortcake and chocolate brownies – which all looked very fresh, substantial and tempting, it was the ‘whisky-iced’ doughnuts on offer that caught our attention! Now, I’m not usually a fan of sugared-coated dough, and on any other occasion, I would opt for the caramel shortcake. However, having spotted @clydesidewhisky and another visitor tweet about these just a few days before our visit, I felt this was a ‘sign’, and we had to try them! And I’m so glad we did!
Made exclusively for the distillery by Tantrum Doughnuts of Glasgow, these light, fluffy circles of deliciousness are topped with icing made using Bank Note, another Islay whisky (I know…who’d have thought that would work?!!? But it really does!) Produced by Clydesides sister distillery A.D Rattray. So now, after this visit, I can honestly say Clydeside – you have made me a convert – to the more smoky, peaty whiskies, and to doughnuts – as long as they’re coated in whisky!
To sum up…
Now, even though their own first whisky won’t be ready for at least another 3 yrs, possibly longer…The Clydeside Distillery has created a genuinely pleasurable and immersive experience for visitors. Whilst still sticking to the traditional and hugely successful process of making good whisky, and fully respecting the Glasgow whiskies origins and the history steeped in the building they now call home, this shiny new distillery is bringing whisky production right into the 21st Century with a contemporary, edgy feel, and a ‘thinking outside the box’ approach to branding and marketing. If you are looking for tartan-clad tour guides and oak-aged mash tuns that look like giant whisky casks, then you won’t find any of that here. What you will find are a young, passionate team who really know their whisky and want a younger wider audience to try whisky and enjoy it in whatever form takes their fancy! If you want to add water, ice, turn it into a cocktail, or even have it on a doughnut – go ahead! As long as you enjoy it, you’ll be keeping the whisky industry alive, and that’s a win-win whatever way you look at it!
Slàinte!