As noted in a previous post, a tour of Glenfiddich is a must. What follows are some pics I took while on tour along with brief comments…

The grounds are immaculate. This kind of care and attention speaks volumes about the organizational culture that has been created at Glenfiddich, which speaks further to the quality of their products.

Mash vessels and a shot of the rakes inside the vessels. Each mash comprises 10 tons of grain and up to 60,000 liters of water. The method is the standard “3 water mash” procedure.

Sparged wort passes through plate heat exchangers to cool from 85C to 17C.

There are 32 fermenters on site. All are the wooden Douglas Fir construct. Lactobacillus bacteria are resident in the tiny cracks in the wood. These bacteria thrive during the ferment and decarboxylate fatty acids which leads to creation of fruity esters after the 72 hr ferment cycle. In fact – the new make spirit is exceptionally fruity and almost worthy of a wee dram in itself.

On site there are 10 wash stills 9100 Liters in size and 18 spirit stills 4550 Liters in size.

The bottling line was operating while I was there. Off to one side there were some bottles set up for hand filling and hand labeling. These, we were told, were 50 year old Whisky destined for China. They will sell for $26,000 per bottle to wealthy Chinese businessman. Time to make friends with a Chinese business-man !!!

There are so many aging warehouses on site, I lost track. Note the black staining on the exterior of this building. That is the classic black mold that loves to grow on alcohol aging warehouses.

These few pictures only provide you with a visual. To get the whole experience, you have to be here boots on the ground. Truly a remarkable experience.