Glenturret Distillery
The Hosh
Crieff
Perthshire
PH7 4HA
01764 656565
What is the Famous Grouse Experience?
It's a new visitor attraction based on the icon and advertising character at Scotland's oldest distillery, Glenturret, near Crieff. The visitors' centre has been refurbished and there's a great audiovisual presentation.
What were your first impressions of the place?
We thought it was fantastic, the distillery is smaller than I'd imagined but set in beautiful surroundings and everything is well kept with excellent facilities.
What was the distillery tour like?
It was interesting to see and hear how whisky is made. The tour guide was excellent and she knew her stuff - she explained why the Famous Grouse is based at the distillery and the background behind the advertising campaigns. The tour also takes you through the whisky processes from milling to mashing, fermenting, distilling, filling then finally to maturing.
What about the important part - tasting whisky?
Part of the tour includes tasting a dram of Famous Grouse and you are encouraged to nose the whisky - to identify the various flavours rather than taste them. To get your nose into practice we were given some scratch and sniff cards and had to identify the four different flavours - vanilla, lemon, chocolate and peat smoke. Some people can then smell a whiff of peat or barley in the whisky - all I could smell was alcohol.
What about the interactive part of the tour?
The final part of the tour is the highlight which makes it stand out from other distillery tours. Everyone in the group is shown into a big white room and the lights are switched off. There are huge screens all around and on the floor and it's like a virtual reality 3D experience.
There's one part where you take a tour across Scotland, flying over Edinburgh Castle, the Highlands, Loch Ness and even to Murrayfield where the Grouse kicks a rugby ball, and it feels like it's coming straight for you.
There's also a giant jigsaw puzzle which appears on the ground in front of you and you have to jump on the different pieces.
Did you learn anything new?
I learnt some things about whisky distilling I didn't know before. We also learned about Towser the cat who lived in the still house at the distillery for 24 years and is in the Guinness Book of Records for having caught 28,899 mice in her lifetime. She now has her own statue in her honour.
They have a new cat now but apparently she's not much of a mouser.
Is it suitable for families?
There were some small children on our tour and their eyes just lit up when they got to the interactive part.
Obviously they were too young to understand the whisky-making process but they looked like they were having a good time. There are some strong alcohol smells near the stills which some children might not like but generally I think they found the whole thing fascinating.
What else is there to do?
There's a really great restaurant and dramming bar and a large shop for Famous Grouse souvenirs and a chance to buy any of the Glenturret whiskies - they also make Highland Park and Macallan there.
We didn't have time to go on the nature trail but we might do that another time and maybe take along a bite to eat picnic as there's a picnic area too.
Details...
Open: All year; first tour, 9.30am; last tour, 4.30pm. Admission: Adults, £6.00; children, £3; under-fives, free; family ticket, £16. Tasting tour for adults only, £9.
Details
01764 656565
What was the distillery tour like?
It was interesting to see and hear how whisky is made. The tour guide was excellent and she knew her stuff - she explained why the Famous Grouse is based at the distillery and the background behind the advertising campaigns. The tour also takes you through the whisky processes from milling to mashing, fermenting, distilling, filling then finally to maturing.
What about the important part - tasting whisky?
Part of the tour includes tasting a dram of Famous Grouse and you are encouraged to nose the whisky - to identify the various flavours rather than taste them. To get your nose into practice we were given some scratch and sniff cards and had to identify the four different flavours - vanilla, lemon, chocolate and peat smoke. Some people can then smell a whiff of peat or barley in the whisky - all I could smell was alcohol.
What about the interactive part of the tour?
The final part of the tour is the highlight which makes it stand out from other distillery tours. Everyone in the group is shown into a big white room and the lights are switched off. There are huge screens all around and on the floor and it's like a virtual reality 3D experience.
There's one part where you take a tour across Scotland, flying over Edinburgh Castle, the Highlands, Loch Ness and even to Murrayfield where the Grouse kicks a rugby ball, and it feels like it's coming straight for you.
There's also a giant jigsaw puzzle which appears on the ground in front of you and you have to jump on the different pieces.
Did you learn anything new?
I learnt some things about whisky distilling I didn't know before. We also learned about Towser the cat who lived in the still house at the distillery for 24 years and is in the Guinness Book of Records for having caught 28,899 mice in her lifetime. She now has her own statue in her honour.
They have a new cat now but apparently she's not much of a mouser.
Is it suitable for families?
There were some small children on our tour and their eyes just lit up when they got to the interactive part.
Obviously they were too young to understand the whisky-making process but they looked like they were having a good time. There are some strong alcohol smells near the stills which some children might not like but generally I think they found the whole thing fascinating.
What else is there to do?
There's a really great restaurant and dramming bar and a large shop for Famous Grouse souvenirs and a chance to buy any of the Glenturret whiskies - they also make Highland Park and Macallan there.
We didn't have time to go on the nature trail but we might do that another time and maybe take along a bite to eat picnic as there's a picnic area too.
Details...
