Scottish autumn and single malt
Award-winning travel writer, Robin McKelvie, takes us on a tour of the Scottish islands of Jura, Islay and Arran via his favourite distilleries. His recommendations inspired our exclusive member holiday, available to book now.
Member Holiday Exclusive
1st-9th or 8th-15th October 2021
£645pp for two from London
(or customise with other dates, people and start-locations)
Savvy Scots know the upside of shortening nights is the soft, dappled light, burning colours and sheer cosiness of a Scottish Autumn. As the summer crowds ease the heather blooms, the leaves start to turn, and the isles come into their own. It’s an ideal time for wildlife as the basking sharks swirl in from the Atlantic and the stags start to drift down from the high hills. Autumn is peak whisky drinking season too. What could be more life-affirming on a glorious autumn day than enjoying a bracing walk followed by a gorgeous single malt in the glowering gloaming?
Join us now as we sweep around the Inner Hebrides and Firth of Clyde isles matching top-notch whiskies with spirit-soaring hikes.
Islay’s three Victorian Dames
Islay, the undoubted star of Scotland’s whisky islands, is home to a whopping nine distilleries. Handily the trio of historic distilleries that hug the rugged southern shores – think iconic whitewashed dames set right by the ocean – are now connected via a walkway and cycle route. First up, heading east out of Port Ellen, is Prince Charles’ beloved Laphroaig. Their standard 10-year-old expression is always a winner, as are their whisky and chocolate matching tastings. Hiking on east we come to Lagavulin, with its low-fi visitor experience and smoother peated malts. Best avoid sinking into one of the armchairs in their tasting room as you won’t want to continue your trek. Last but certainly not least is Ardbeg. If you’re brave try the ‘Wee Beastie’, a spiky 5-year-old peaty punch in the face. The café refreshes with superb coffee and cakes, handy before you either yomp back to Port Ellen, or up through an old cleared village to Loch Uigeadail, where the Ardbeg story begins with its hallowed water. Up here, as the distillery blinks back below, you can toast yourself for choosing an autumn escape in Scotland.
Smooth hills and even smoother sherry drams – Bunnahabhain Distillery stands on Islay’s wild east overlooking the tumultuous Sound Of Islay. If you’re expecting a peaty monster, think again, as here it’s all about sherry maturation and smooth flavours. Delicious! They like experimenting with a host of different types of wood – their expression that marries Oloroso maturation with Pedro Ximenez is a showstopper, as are the views from their shop and café out towards Jura across the frothing waters. Look out for dolphins here and the odd whale if you’re very lucky. A tip we gleaned from one of the stillmen is tackling the ultra-remote hill of Beinn Thrasda. You will never see anyone up here – bar cheery stillmen – and it’s as rejuvenating and thrilling an autumn escape as you can find as you sit gazing out to isles, water and heather.
Migrate to Bowmore – The island capital of Bowmore houses a distillery with a green heart; a community-minded one too. By-products from Bowmore Distillery help heat the local swimming pool. Slip in off Bowmore’s main street and enjoy a dram with a Loch Indaal view – maybe a gently peated 18-year-old warmed with sherry before pushing out southwest along the loch’s shores. You’ll soon the lose the imprint of man in a wilder world of craggy coast, cobalt loch and big sky as you make your way down Loch Indaal towards the open Atlantic. Look out for the geese – over half the world's barnacle geese and a quarter of the endangered Greenland white-fronted geese population make autumn migrations to Islay.
Kilchoman - Islay
Islay’s smallest distillery is perfectly formed. Rather than a purpose-built whisky factory, this bijou charmer weaves its organic tentacles around an old farm. A tour takes little time as it’s all on such a compact scale, though they have recently expanded a little as there is such a high demand for their majestic malts. Snare a bottle of their 100% Islay, which unusually is made using the island’s small crop of barley. Then sweep down to Machir Bay, a 2km sandy oasis. The wild Atlantic breakers warn against swimming, but it’s a bracing, soul-freeing escape where a hulking shipwreck wedged in the sands makes you think about bigger things beyond the horizon. Hike the sands, pop into the local church to see the gorgeous Kilchoman Cross and fail to find a path - but still, get to the top-up Turnaichaidh to take in a view of the beach that will sear into your brain forever.
Follow Orwell to Jura – The remote, wildly Hebridean isle of Jura is a contrast to gentler neighbour Islay. George Orwell fled here seeking the solitude required to write 1984, almost drowning in the process after his rowing boat capsized in the treacherous Gulf of Corryvreckan. Jura has it all – a population of almost 6,000 (red deer, that is), less than 100 inhabitants, one real road, one hotel and one pub. What more do you really need? Ah yes, of course, a distillery. Jura has one of those too. You’d needn’t risk battling Corryvreckan, seeking instead your own solace in the island ‘capital’ of Craighouse where Isle of Jura Distillery tempts. You’re welcomed like a long lost member of the family here in the wee shop. Top whisky tip is the 16-year-old, the ‘Diurachs Own’, the favourite of the stillmen themselves. If you like your hiking tough and challenging (and you’ve got the gear and experience) forge up the Paps of Jura, a trio of rounded peaks whose screen-ravaged slopes are treacherous. An easier hike ekes up from Craighouse up through woodland to the low hills behind the distillery where you can peer back down towards Craighouse admiring the grandstand setting. You will see deer. You’ll hear them too as autumn brings the roaring annual rutting when it sounds like there has been a murder in the glens.
Lochranza Distillery - Arran
The original Arran distillery – Easing around the Mull of Kintyre into the more protected waters of the Firth of Clyde we come to Arran, an island that shines brightest in autumn. Hailed as ‘Scotland in Miniature’ it literally is, as the Highland Boundary Fault surges right through Arran. In the Highlands, Lochranza Distillery opened in 1995, bringing whisky back to Arran for the first time since the glens were alive with illicit stills. Look out for distillery-only specials, which this autumn include ‘Harmony’, a glorious whisky bound in a leather, fiddle-shaped case. Their Casks Café is superb too with locally sourced, sustainable venison working its way into the burgers. Arran is the only isle in Scotland with all of the wildlife ‘Big Five’. You can see them on a single hike from the distillery. Hike up the gorge to the water source of Loch na Davie, scanning the crags for golden eagles. You’ll come across red deer too in autumn here – also look out for the elusive white stag – and then push east to Catacol. Follow the coast back to Lochranza Castle and en-route keep a keen eye out for red squirrels (the gorgeously big bushy tailed ones), seals and otters to complete the wildlife quintet. There is a good chance of spotting basking sharks in autumn in Lochranza too.
In 2019 the same people behind Lochranza Distillery opened another distillery in Arran’s south in Lagg. This purpose-built wonder could scarcely enjoy a more spectacular setting gazing out across the water towards the vaulting rock sentinel of Ailsa Craig, one of the world’s largest gannetries. Lagg’s whiskies are smokier and peatier compared to Lochranza’s smoother expressions. The visitor experience is one of the slickest in Scotland. As they’ve not been distilling for long they’ve nothing they can sell as ‘Scotch’ yet, so pick up a bottle of Machrie Moor, the peated expression from Lochranza - it will give you an idea of what they’re aiming for. Then walk out from the cute village of Lagg via a Neolithic cairn to Torrylin beach, where it’ll be just you, the seals and the big autumnal skies.
