JUNE 14 - 20, 2024
DRAUGHT AND DRAMS
TOUR OVERVIEW
A country with the unicorn as its national animal must have a sense of humor, or wonder, or both. Occupying the relatively remote northern portion of Britain, Scotland is equally blessed and cursed to be home to the islands’ wildest, most dramatic geography: the glens, bens, burns, firths, and lochs of mystical legend. Its people are as fiercely independent and protective of their traditions as they are welcoming and eager to share.
As beer importers we enjoyed working with the upstart Scottish brewers, who managed to thrive under the shadow of the monolithic brewing culture of England. As students of the distillatory arts, we have been in awe of the insular and singular pedigree of Scottish whisky makers. “Scotch” and beer share common ingredients, but how do they divide up the land’s identity, and the affections of its drinkers? We’ll navigate some of Europe’s most stunning valleys, mountains, and rivers to find the answer
DAY 1
FRIDAY JUNE 14, 2024
FÀILTE GU ALBA
Or to put it another way, “Welcome to Scotland!”
DAY 2
SATURDAY JUNE 15, 2024
HEADED TO THE HIGHLANDS
After breakfast we’ll begin our northwards journey into the Scottish countryside, but before we get to The Highlands it’s time for our first whisky tour and tasting, at Auchentoshan just outside Glasgow. A bit of Lowlands Malt and lore under our belts, we’re soon crossing the Highland Boundary Fault. At Loch Lomond Brewery we’ll sample our first Highland ales and possibly be offered a snifter of house made spirit as well.
We’ll then drive north along the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond itself, marveling at the dramatic landscapes and vistas before grabbing a casual lunch near the loch. Then it’s on to the impossibly picturesque Fyne Ales for a memorable tour and tasting. We then drive into the lively village of Pitlochry for an overnight stay highlighted by quaint restaurants and characterful pubs.
DAY 3
SUNDAY JUNE 16, 2024
ALL ALONG SPEYSIDE
Today we explore three different distilleries — one 19th, one 20th and one 21st century. After a fun night in Pitlochry we leave early in the morning and continue our trip north, into the Cairngorms. This initial drive offers the perfect combination of scenery watching and recuperating from Saturday’s packed itinerary. Once on the eastern border of Cairngorms National Park, we’ll pay a quick visit to Dalwhinnie Distillery — one of the highest situated in Scotland.
From there we cut through the park and head into Speyside. Here the Spey, Scotland’s second longest river, winds its way through an area that’s home to about 50 whisky distilleries. We’ll have a tour, tasting and lunch at one of the newest, the beautiful Cairn Distillery, before popping into the bar at GlenAllachie to cap off this amazing triple-distillery day. We then check into our hotel in Elgin, where we’ll have a festive round-table dinner.
DAY 4
MONDAY JUNE 17, 2024
FIREWATER & SALTWATER
Our epic full day in Speyside features a bit of everything. We’ll have a morning tour at the amazing Speyside Cooperage to explore the crucial art of cask-making before visiting the Benriach Distillery for a tour and extended tasting session.
We’ll then break for free time and lunch in Elgin before getting back on the bus for a drive toward the coast to explore its remote historical sites. Time-permitting we’ll view the beach at Lossiemouth before free-exploring the fascinating and ancient Duffus Castle ruins. We’ll return to Elgin on the early side – this will be a free night to hit the town, and there will also be an optional, private whisky tasting presented in our hotel.
DAY 5
TUESDAY JUNE 18, 2024
BASTIONS OF INDEPENDENCE
We’ll cap off our Highlands whisky experience with a morning tour of one of Scotland’s few remaining traditional, independent distilleries, the formidable and dramatically-situated Glenfarclas.
Then we’ll enjoy the long, scenic drive south, making a quick lunch stop to be determined before arriving at the unusually well-preserved Doune Castle, made famous as the main set for the classic film Monty Python and the The Holy Grail. From Doune it’s a short drive into the strikingly beautiful historic city of Stirling, where we’ll have a cosy dinner at one of Scotland’s finest pubs, The Portcullis. A free bar-crawl night follows.
DAY 6
WEDNESDAY JUNE 19, 2024
STROLLING ‘ROUND AULD REEKIE
Following our local brewery trek, we have a grand finale dinner to attend at the glorious Victorian pub Café Royal. Afterwards we’ll see the tour out in style, hitting as many of Edinburgh’s real ale pubs as we can.
DAY 7
THURSDAY JUNE 20, 2024
MAR SIN LEIBH AN DRÀSDA
Edinburgh is a major travel hub. Our hotel located right near its main station offers easy access to the airport for flights home or to other locations around Europe, or to trains destined for other cities in Scotland or England.
The city itself is also well worth a few extra days’ exploration. Your ICBT guides will spend the day and evening of June 20 in town, and guests are cordially invited to join us for any daytime jaunts or nighttime bar crawls. But whichever day we go our separate ways, we’ll end our shared adventure the way we began it, with a bit of Gaelic — Mar sin leibh an drasda — “Goodbye for now.”
EXTRAS
MULTIPLE DATES
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE...
Inner Circle attracts not only casual beer fans but homebrewers, professional tasting judges, beverage industry notables, and seasoned world travelers. As such our guest lists represent a wide variety of interests and interest levels. Our experience has shown that some folks are happy with a casual, fun but informative overview of the regions we visit, while others want to dig ever deeper into the technical or tasting side, or simply explore more of the area on the itinerary.
For these folks, we present optional venues and events (free or at flat cost) within the tour timeframe or as part of additional pre-or-post-tour days.
For Scotland ’24 we are offering:
- JUNE 14 – a pre-tour walk to some of the major sites in Glasgow
- JUNE 17 – an intensive whisky talk and tasting by a local expert
- JUNE 19 – a gin distillery visit
- JUNE 20 – a sightseeing/tasting extra half-day post-tour in Edinburgh.
SCOTLAND 2024 TOUR PRICING
$2400
PER PERSON, BASED ON DOUBLE OCCUPANCY
(ADD $300 FOR SINGLE OCCUPANCY)
**Tour prices are per person and do not include airfare.
*Single occupancy rooms are limited.
More information about the destinations
we'll visit on our tour
**Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information presented on this webpage. Inner Circle Beer Tours (ICBT) is not responsible for errors in or damages resulting from use of the information contained herein. Information contained on this webpage is subject to change without notice.**
