Fettercairn

[Jock Scot]

Thanks SO much for that extended discussion. I've taken to sampling a bit of whisky only in the past few years. My palette is VERY unschooled. I could probably proclaim honestly that sherry-casked Glenlivet and peaty Laphroiag are recognizably "different" but beyond that I'd be lost. In a way, that's a GOOD thing, because it means I'll never really regret the lack of opportunity to trade $22,000 (or most recently in the US, $37,000) for the right to open a bottle of Fettercairn's handiwork.

But your travelogue discussion of the countryside and other distilleries in the area sounds enchanting, and could anchor a part of my next visit to Scotland.

I must admit that on my last trip, I was wholly unsuspecting of the pace of possible travel on the paved sheep's paths with "passing places" every quarter mile or so that take unsuspecting tourists from Culloden to Glenlivet, as a consequence of which we totally missed our distillery tour, although we showed up in time for our sales-room tasting, which I enjoyed but did not much understand.

For what it is worth I would add at least half an hour or more to your estimated road travel time. The traffic at present is terrible. Coveys of motor homes, swarms of coaches and herds of timber lorries are really not helping speedy road transit here in the Highlands. It has never been easy to keep to schedule in recent times by road, but at present its worse than ever! Just saying.