Scotch and cotton mills

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Started off with a nice scottish breakfast (black pudding, haggis, white pudding, sausage, haggis, potato scones, toast, eggs, haggis, grilled tomatoes, and baked beans). Then off to Pilochry to see the Edradour distillery which is the smallest distillery in all of Scotland and incidently is Nigel's favourite scotch! The tour was fabulous and took us through the warehouse where there were many casks, the oldest of which was turning 50 years old next year. Many of these were casks of Edradour and there were also many casks from other either existing or no-longer existing distilleries where the owner of Edradour bought the casks and will later bottle them under the original scotch brand. We also saw the stills in action and a malting room. The entire distillery operation is done by 4 men. They showed a short movie at the beginning accompanied by 2 scotch samples, one was a 10 year and the other was a 12-year. We got to keep the keepsake glasses too! Nigel bought some scotch but we were unable to get any empty tins for Scott as they send the bottles out to be packaged. The distillery was very picturesque too with a lovely stream running through it.

Nigel here for a second - I sampled a 26 year old Edradour thanks to the generosity of a fellow tourist and WOW!! Where are my socks? They must have been blown clean off! Best scotch ever!!! After that taste explosion we wandered out. There was a lone piper at the gates to the distillery, so we gave him five pounds and he played all our favourite 80s tunes: Beat it, Stairway to Heaven, a Beegees tune and a couple Hall and Oats charts. Just kidding. It was Scotland the Brave. Back to Lori...

Then in to Pitlochry for lunch at Auld Smitty's. Lori enjoyed mussells and Nigel the steak and sausage pie. Delicious! Wandered up and down the High Street before moving on to see Stanley Mills which is a closed down mill that operated until 1989. It was a cotton mill that was in operation since the 1700's. There was a very informative exhibit here with lots of hands-on sections. It showed how the mill transitioned from a wooden wheel mill, to a wheel with buckets, then finally a turbine powered mill. The workers there had been part of the clearances and had been offered a new home and piece of land if they agreed to leave their home and work at the mill. The alternative was to be simply kicked out of their homes as the rich people wanted to clear the land so they could breed sheep.

Back home for a quiet evening and an early night.

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