Dumbed-down though not unpleasant visitors' experience at The Famous Grouse.
If you always wanted to visit an authentic Scottish whisky distillery, do not make it the Glenturret Distillery, famous for its part of creating The Famous Grouse (a moderately inexpensive blended whisky that includes several single malts as well as grain whiskies). This is The Famous Grouse Experience, after all - except, truth be told, it is not much of an experience.
Everything here caters to the casual whisky fan, not to anyone seriously interested in how whisky is, specifically, being made. If you're one of former, fine: Then this is perfectly adequate. But as a serious-minded whisky lover I was let down. I learned nothing here that I didn't know previously. Sure, if you have visited various breweries and/or distilleries, the process itself doesn't vary a lot between the individual makers. But still, there should be some distinguishing elements. Here, there were none. And you couldn't even take photos inside - allegedly because of the danger of an explosion. Yeah, right. With non-flash digital photography that's a risk I'd be willing to take. ;)
Granted, the distillery is rather nice-looking from outside, and it's located in a really wonderful wooded area in Scotland. A shop and a restaurant contribute to the "visitors' experience". Is it worth visiting if you have to drive a hundred miles to get there? Absolutely not. Is it okay if you're just doing a day tour on a tourist coach and it's just one stop on the way? Absolutely. read more