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My Handcrafted Opinions on Whiskies, Distilleries and Other Related Stuff

Henry Schmidt's Illegal Still Site, Texas, USA

Henry Schmidt's Illegal Still Site, Texas, USA

OK, I admit this is stretch but I did visit it as it is just a few miles from Houston in what is now a wildlife park in Dickinson, Texas.    Of course before posting this entry I did some very thorough research.  By "thorough" I mean I typed three of four versions of "Schmidt+stills+Dickinson"  into Google but I got less hits than Donald Sterling's www.onlineguidetoracerelations.com webpage.  All I could find was information on the sign which says the site "was used by Henry Schmidt in the 1920s and destroyed by Hurricane Carla".  At end of day I can still say it may not be the worst distillery  visit I ever made (Tobermory; I have not forgotten you and NEVER will).  Also my daughter really enjoyed this trip a lot more than others as it had turtles and camels as well.  You never see those at Glenfiddich.  Not unless you hit the samples a little too hard.

More in this category: « Yellow Rose Distilling, Texas, USA Catoctin Creek, Virginia, USA »

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Glenturret, Crieff, Scotland
Glenturret, Crieff, Scotland

I accept no-one is coming here because of their love of the Glenturret single malts.  They simply don't capture anyone's imagination or fire passions in the way Laphroig, Ardbeg, Macallan, Glenlivet and others can do.  This is the home of a whisky themed tourist attraction, The Famous Grouse Experience, based on the fact that Glenturret is one of the malts used in that blended scotch.  It also claims to be the oldest distillery in Scotland but that honor is claimed by several others.

It is a fine little distillery with well run tours that end with an interactive (and very expensive looking) video component at the end (which didn't work the first time we were there) and a nice and very well stocked whisky bar, a restaurant and an expansive Famous Grouse shop.  They also have a statue of their famous cat, Towser, who held the Guinness World Record for mouse killing.   

The tasting at the end of the standard tour includes a choice between the Famous Grouse blend or Glenturret 10 year old, and in the bar they sell a flight of three single malt samples that are components of the Famous Grouse... The Macallan, Highland Park and of course Glenturret.  In addition they do a Warehouse #9 tour, which ends in the aforementioned warehouse tasting room and involves sampling all of the Famous Grouse blended malts from 10 year old to the 30 year old.  If you are doing this one, bring a designated driver.

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