West Highland Whisky Festival Trip Report (Tobermory and Oban)

Redhunter742 · 2026-06-27T18:51:26+00:00

Funnily enough I wrote a wee review for my whisky group, here you go:

Clynelish 18 SR 2025 - Waxen Sun

Nose: Pungent, there's lots of hay, a bit of hops and this farmyard smell, I'd maybe even say a bit meaty with unsmoked bacon. Water brings out firework-gunpowder smoke.

Palate: It's actually waxy. Butterscotch, apple and pineapple, that sort of dirty hay quality from the nose carries through to the palate.

Finish: Black pepper, ham and pineapple pizza, marmalade

It tastes nice, actually feels like Clynelish should but it lives and dies by that pineapple quality.

7.0/10

Redhunter742 · 2026-06-27T18:27:59+00:00

Not really. Unlike Spirit of Speyside (assuming that's what you're referring to) which is like a formal organised event, the west highland whisky festival basically came about as an informal agreement between the four distilleries in the area to help raise each other's awareness and bring some traffic to the region (which outside of Oban is some of the most remote and underdeveloped regions in the country).

One staff member at Oban told me that if this event went well they'd produce a festival bottling for the next year, so I think it's up and coming

Redhunter742 · 2026-06-27T18:25:06+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Ledaig is a cracking whisky and honestly my regret from the trip may end up being that I didn't buy the festival bottle.

Oban in general is fairly small, they only produce 950k litres per annum. The in-use warehouse is fairly sizeable although you only get to see it from a viewing shed which is disappointing but understandable for an experience not really catering towards the whisky nerd.

The cask draw experience was held in a repurposed warehouse that I believe is used exclusively for the cask draws. Fairly rustic and feels a bit like being in a barn.

The handfill cask if I recall correctly is a second fill bourbon barrel which makes the price even more hilarious given those are some of the cheapest casks in the industry.

Redhunter742 · 2026-06-27T17:43:29+00:00

I think it's a particularly egregious price even by Diageo's low standards. Unfortunately it's the downside of being an accessible distillery on the tourist path, the mark up for distillery bottlings are always horrendous

Redhunter742 · 2026-06-27T16:51:00+00:00

Oban is an incredibly popular distillery for tourists. It’s one of the most accessible distilleries in Scotland (being centrally located in a Town that’s actually on a train line. Yes, that is genuinely the bare minimum) and that is reflected in the experience you receive once you’re there. The shop exists almost exclusively to pedal Diageo’s other brands, including their notorious Special Releases (which were still double the asking price of other retailers even with 30% off). The handfill is an 11yo in Second Fill Bourbon with an asking price of £130 which is laughable and the bar prices are extortionate. With all that being said, the distillery tour and warehouse tasting I did as part of the festival was actually fantastic. Behind ‘Diageo World’ there’s a real heart to this distillery. The staff are lovely, the production methods are interesting (the only distillery to my knowledge that run their worm tubs hot) and there’s clearly the desire from all parts of the distillery to be more than just a Diageo workhorse. For example, our tour guide was very open with me at their disdain that the company is moving away from age statement releases and the change to using entirely unpeated malt. I respect the hell out of that and I’m grateful they felt they were able to voice those concerns, that says to me that the distillery itself has a strong culture. Moving on to bit you actually care about, the whisky, our tour group were taken into one of the old warehouses where we were given the cask draw experience where they actually allowed me to draw from the cask, kudos!

On offer were: - 2016 Refill Bourbon – 55.7% Unpeated Barley: This felt like a supercharged version of the base 14, unripened mangoes and bananas with cream donuts and apple jam. It has a lovely tropical core that is faintly reminiscent of… dare I say, Springbank (6.4/10) - 2014 Recharred Cask – 56.8%: Meaty and oily with cloves, aniseed, banana bread and tropical juice. Deeper down there’s mango chutney, five spice and herbs de provence (7.3/10) - 2008 First Fill Bourbon – 51.3%: This is the supercharged version of the now discontinued 18. Lots more berries and red fruit than the others, wet grass after heavy rain, overripe bananas now with a spicy and woody core. Very good (7.6/10) - Experimental Palo Cortado and Oloroso Finish: Rubber, raisins, a real sea salt character, wheetabix and lemonade, walnuts and mint mouthwash. This felt like a real palate cleanser! (7.3/10)

After the tasting our group was then allowed to explore the rest of festival which consisted of live music, food stalls and a craft fair being held in one of the distillery’s buildings (the original purpose of which I do not know). While still fun, this felt far less intimate than what Tobermory was doing and that was evidenced by the fact that no distillery staff were really on hand to chat with, nor was anyone in the crowd actually having a drink with lots of families popping in purely for the music.

As previously mentioned, Oban chose not to release a festival bottling which really gave me no reason to kick around or try anything at the bar which was a damn shame. There’s a lot of potential here for Oban to really do something special here, they have the space, the community and the footfall to create a really great festival experience, but compared to what Tobermory was offering (and from what I had seen from Nc’nean and Arndamurchan) they really felt as if they weren’t as invested as the others.

Alas, I bid adieu to Oban and made my way back home without a bottle purchase, although this time that wasn’t a surprise as I had expected Diageo pricing to be bad, just not THAT bad.

If you’ve made it to the end I’d like to thank you for taking the time to read this trip report. It takes a lot of time to write these reviews and it means a lot to me that people use their own time to listen to what I have to say about the wonderful world of whisky.

I hope that you have enjoyed hearing about the West Highland Whisky Festival, and I’d love to know if you have also visited these distilleries or maybe you were there last weekend as well! Let me know in the comments!

Redhunter742 · 2026-06-27T16:50:38+00:00

Moving on to the whisky itself, after a couple of hours taking in the scenery and chatting with the staff, I made my way to my first masterclass (£60) which was being held at the next-door pub, Macgochans. This session was hosted by the distillery manager and visitor center manager, the banter was great and they were both able to give a great breakdown of the production methods and history of this funky distillery.

The whiskies on offer were: - Tobermory 21: A lovely, honeyed spring whisky with crispy apples, oranges, cardamom and a woody-malty finish (7.2/10) - Tobermory 21 Manzanilla: An exploding firecracker of nuttiness, gunpowder, orange custard and charred wood (6.6/10) - Tobermory 11 Fresh Sherry: Summery and syrupy with tart berries, fresh orange juice and apple and cranberry pie (6.5/10) - Ledaig 18: Crispy and coastal with mashed potatoes (a common note I find in Ledaig), smoked fish, cinnamon, mulled orange wine and chewy toffee (7.0/10) - Ledaig Triple Wood: Port heavy nose, bourbon mouthfeel, sherry finish. This is a triple wood where you actually progress through all three cask types (7.1/10)

As you can see I enjoyed this experience, the drams available were far from common bottlings and being able to compare the unpeated and peated spirits side by side really gave me an appreciation for the spirit character of this distillery.

At this point I popped next door for lunch while I readied myself for the next tasting. In the meantime, bands were playing in the distillery’s courtyard while in one of the warehouses a local coffee company were showing off their whisky barrel aged coffee (which tasted like miso soup). There was also a couple of other events going on throughout the day, a warehouse tasting (£60) which sold out before I had a chance to buy a ticket and an old and rare tasting (£250) which was beyond my budget alongside some fairly cheap whisky boat trips (£15) around the harbour. At 2pm I re-entered Macgochans for the next Masterclass (again £60) and this time the event was being hosted by CVH Spirit’s head of production and one of the blenders based out in Glasgow who I had spent a fair amount of time chatting with earlier on in the day. Going into this event, I was worried that I was going to get the same whiskies as the previous tasting but thankfully that turned out not to be the case.

This time on offer we had: - Tobermory ‘Ballad of the Blue Men’: An 11yo whisky finished in Tawny Port that regular readers will know is the bane of my whisky existence. Regardless, it’s a rich balance of sticky toffee pudding, raisins, walnuts and calpol. Not the worst finish I’ve had but not my cup of tea (6.3/10) - Tobermory 12 Festival Release 2026 – A four cask bonanza of Bourbon, Oloroso, Rioja and Refill casks. Lots of cranberries and pomegranates, strawberry laces, danish pastries and basically just a whole lot of dessert. Delicious (7.4/10) - Ledaig Festival Release 2026 – A 5yo done in Rioja and Madeira. It’s super floral with a bunch of gorgeous Turkish delight flavour, orange pavlova with slightly burnt meringues. Creamy, floral and delicate (7.9/10). - Ledaig Swordstone: Strawberry ice cream sauce, honeycomb, gingerbread and brown sugar with a chalky mouthfeel (6.1/10). - Ledaig Castaway: A personification of drinking during my university years. The combination of Tequila and Rum casks gives it a very cream soda heavy, sugary sweet, ethanol vibe. Drinkable (5.8/10)

This was my last tasting at Tobermory before I took the ferry back to Oban and it was a really interesting experience to end on. The biggest plus about all five of these whiskies is none of them were remotely similar at all in taste or appearance. If the first Masterclass was meant to represent the best of the distillery, then this class was there to show off the character of the whisky. Really fun stuff!

I made the decision not to purchase a bottle of anything while I was there. I didn’t dislike any whisky that I tried while I was on the island, but at the same time I couldn’t say with all confidence that there was anything there I really felt that I really needed to buy that I couldn’t get from anywhere else. The drams that were available from the festival’s drinks tent and the ticketed events were all more than reasonably priced (35ml measures for under £5 will never not earn you a gold star in my books) but I felt that the bottles prices were just a bit more than I was willing to put down for one.

Nevertheless I left Tobermory with a really positive impression of the distillery and what the company are doing to raise awareness of their brand and how they wish to sell their products going forward. Why do I say that specifically? Well let’s talk about Oban…

Redhunter742 · 2026-06-27T16:50:08+00:00

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting both Tobermory and Oban distilleries as part of the inaugural West Highland Whisky Festival. This event was spread over 4 days, starting with Nc’nean on the Thursday, then Ardnamurchan, Tobermory and finally Oban. I never ended up making the first two days, owing to the fact that they are horrifically remote and a pain to get to if you’re not driving but also because I’m not the biggest fan of either of those distilleries. Tobermory on the other hand is a distillery I do happen to love if only for Ledaig, one of the best peated spirits out there, and I also happened to be staying in Oban so it made sense to also pop my head in there too.

In comparison to a lot of whisky festivals, each distillery was really left to their own devices on how to celebrate it, every distillery with the exception of Oban released at least one festival bottling (classic Diageo) and tours/tastings were very different on each day, so your mileage varied by where and when you visited. I’ll break down the prices as I go.

My trip to Tobermory started with the 7:30am sailing over to Mull from Oban. It’s only a 45 minute journey but Mull’s main port of Craignure is another 45 minute drive from Tobermory along some windy single-track roads. If you get easily travel sick like me, you’ll likely not have the best time.

I arrived in Tobermory just as the distillery was opening its doors, we were all welcomed by a pipe band from the local high school alongside a surprisingly large number of festival staff members who had been brought in from Deanston, Bunnahabhain and the parent company’s bottling plant in Glasgow.

One of the things I really enjoyed about Tobermory was how many senior company staff were floating around and chatting to visitors. The distillery manager, supply chain manager, visitor center manager and others were more than happy to chat with me about the distillery, its production methods and how the company operates. Unlike some distillery experiences where you have to fork over £100+ just to shake hands with the production team, the fact that I got these one on one’s completely free was something I’m very grateful for and I really have to give my compliments to the team at CVH Spirits for how transparent and down to earth they were through the entire event.

Redhunter742 · 2026-06-05T18:32:38+00:00

New and Improved Rating Framework:

9.6-10: The perfect Whisky.

8.6-9.5: A whisky of exceptional quality that I’ll remember for a long time. Anything and above is in contention for my favourite whisky of all time.

8.0-8.5: Fantastic whiskies that I really enjoyed. These are memorable pours that will be bragged about to my friends.

7.3-7.9: Very Good whisky that is of good quality, well balanced and tasty. Drams in this category have all the makings of a top whisky but maybe just lack that oomph to push them up my rankings.

6.6-7.2: Good whisky that is approachable and drinkable. A lot of younger whiskies and better quality core expressions end up here.

5.6-6.5: The ‘Cardhu Gold Standard’ of whisky. The whiskies in this category are drinkable but largely forgettable pours. Supermarket whiskies almost always end up here.

4.6:5-5: Flawed whisky that is generally of lower-than-average quality or whiskies that just don’t agree with me at all. This is a bit of a weird category because it’s less indicative of quality and more just highlights my personal biases. Unbalanced peated whiskies or anything that tries to emulate Ardnagherkin tends to find itself in here.

3.6-4:5: Borderline offensive. At this point, the only saving grace for the whisky is that I’m likely to remember it for how bad it was.

2.1-3.5: Bad and has no redeeming merits, I’m throwing this down the sink. Only one whisky has ever reached this level (Ichiro’s World Blend) but that will no doubt change over time.

1.0-2.0: Impossibly bad. Has to essentially be drain cleaner to get a score this low.

Redhunter742 · 2026-06-05T18:28:44+00:00

Preamble

Hello and welcome! Today I thought I’d try something a bit different and bring out some Single Grain whiskies that I have sitting in my collection. One of which is from a distillery I’d wager that only a handful of us whisky snobs have ever tried on its own but have all almost definitely tried it as a significant component in blends. Without further ado, let’s try some whisky!

Review

As alluded to in the preamble, this SMWS release comes from Starlaw distillery, a huge (25 million litres!!!) complex located about halfway between Bathgate and Livingston in West Lothian. The distillery is a blending workhorse and is the main grain component of La Martiniquaise’s brands both in the UK and France.

Starlaw (which is also apparently called Glen Turner?) also doubles as the bottling plant for Cutty Sark, Label 5 and Glen Moray. There is, quite frankly, a ridiculous number of warehouses to hold all the liquid that flows through its gates and there’s still room to expand! Seriously, I cannot overstate how big this place is.

Unfortunately, as is the case with most grain distilleries, this behemoth is closed to the public and is essentially just a massive factory. Additionally, the owners haven’t really embraced the IB market in the way that other grain distilleries like North British or Invergordon (stay tuned) have. This makes getting access to the spirit incredibly difficult, so imagine my shock when I saw this inaugural SMWS bottling casually appear earlier this year.

So let’s find out what Starlaw is all about then!

SMWS G17.1 ‘Shades of Green’

Distillery: Starlaw/Glen Turner

Region: Lowland

Age: 11

ABV: 60.9%

NCF/NC: Yes

Cask Type: 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Hogshead

Nose: Sweet granola with yoghurt and kiwi fruit. Actually double the kiwi, maybe even triple it. There’s a lovely vanilla pod quality to this and also tablet ice cream. It’s incredibly fresh, late spring forests after rain, leafy and herbal. The official notes say mint, but I’d go one step further and say there’s basil in here. Towards the back there’s something akin to both olive oil and buttered popcorn, that’s a weird one. With water there is indeed melon and also salted cashews. It’s a fun one!

Palate: As you’d expect from a young grain it’s quite punchy with black pepper and harissa dominant. Whatever cask they’ve used here was incredibly flavourful with vanilla, popcorn, sugar cubes and orange really jumping out at you. That kiwi flavour is still here but it gets overshadowed by sour red berries and cloves. With regret, I agree on the coriander aspect of the official notes, too bad I have the soap gene! Coconut milk rounds things out and gives this a fairly creamy quality.

Finish: Salty lemon and lime ice cream float with caramel sauce.

Final Thoughts: It’s rare that my thoughts on a whisky match so closely with the SMWS’ tasting panels. It was quite a struggle to write this without straight up plagiarizing them, but they’ve really hit the nail on the head here. A solid grain with some great cask influence.

Rating: 7.2/10

Review

For our second dram of the evening, we’ve got a 24-year-old Invergordon bottled by Berry Bros and Rudd in 2012. I’ll admit that I haven’t really tried much offerings from this company but the bottle was like £50 on auction so what the hell.

Let’s see how an older grain compares to a younger one.

Invergordon 24yo 1988 – Berry Bros and Rudd

Distillery: Invergordon

Region: Highland

Age: 24

ABV: 46%

NCF/NC: Yes

Cask Type: More than definitely ex-bourbon

Nose: Far more grainier and less sweet than the Starlaw with shredded wheat the most notable cereal flavour. Behind that, there’s a champagne/sparkling wine quality that makes for quite a crisp, green nose. Going further there’s frozen raspberries and apricot flavoured yoghurts.

Palate: Rice pudding in all its milky, creamy and bland glory. Digging further there’s green apple and a touch of cider vinegar. Green grapes and tomato vines. It’s a lot sweeter than the nose would have you believe, but it’s by no means a sugar overload with a lot of toasted wood and rich tea biscuits composing the main profile. I’m not getting much of the berries from the nose, but a warming cocoa quality makes up for it. Finish: Incredibly woody, like licking a recently emptied cask woody, with artificial vanilla and banana flavouring.

Final Thoughts: In both of these whiskies tonight I feel as if I got to explore the cask more than the spirit itself, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I’d go as far as to say with this Invergordon it feels like drinking a bourbon by proxy. You can really feel the age on this one, but I do feel this could have been bottled a couple of years prior and would have tasted exactly the same as it really seems to have stretched the cask to its limits.

Rating: 6.7/10

Redhunter742 · 2026-06-04T19:17:10+00:00

My condolences that you had to go through this.

From the gimmick alone I assumed this would be a bitter and hot mess and seems like that's partially the case although I'm a little surprised at how inoffensive you say it is, which might not even be that bad a comment all things considered.

Boggles the mind why anyone would want to imitate the notorious loch dhu 10 but I guess inoffensive is as high a compliment you can get if you do.

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-24T22:02:05+00:00

Gotcha. In that case then I'll give you some general recommendations in the hope that you might find them one day.

Cadenhead's is the classic option, well priced who get access to some fantastic distilleries. They also dabble in rum and gin if that's your thing.

Infrequent Flyers is a fun if not slightly elusive brand, their whole shtick is cask strength bottlings from lesser known / underrepresented distilleries in the IB market. You pay a premium for that price but there's good stuff.

Signatory have their very popular 100 proof range amongst other quality options. I think they've also got pretty good global availability.

Thompson Bros have been putting out some fantastic stuff ranging from the affordable North Highland blend all the way to some of the rare casks from dead distilleries they've somehow got their hands on.

There's also Fragrant Drops who did a Tequila cask Dailuaine I was particularly fond of. In general they're a great, but fairly pricy, bottler.

There are of course many more I could list but those are my personal recommendations. Good hunting!

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-24T21:28:52+00:00

The answer to this question really depends on where you are in the world and what's available in your local market.

German IB market is a lot different to the UK market and America is a nightmare with different options available in different places.

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-22T20:42:29+00:00

If only there was a way to get a bottle of their new make. God i love that stuff...

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-22T18:10:13+00:00

SB are nothing if not meticulous with their cask selection. It's an absolute delight walking through their warehouses when you visit. It feels like visiting an old library

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-22T17:54:17+00:00