TWL Goes North
TWL Goes North — Edinburgh to Orkney
You don't come home with a bottle. You come home owning part of a cask — filled by your own hands at the most northerly distillery on the Scottish mainland.
Most whisky travel is a coach and a visitor centre. This is six people, a van, and a week of rooms you would not otherwise get into — a private closed-distillery tasting at Gordon & MacPhail, an evening with Scotland's Independent Bottler of the Year, Scotland's only single estate distillery, and two days at the top of the mainland running a distillery for a day.
One major brand appears on the whole itinerary. Everything else is independent, small, or both.
Day by day
Arrive Edinburgh · Dinner on the cask trade
Arrivals through the day, hotel check-in, nothing before evening. Dinner with McLean & Bruce — how casks trade, how they're valued, and the outsized mark independent bottlers leave on a business run by a handful of owners. The framing dinner for the whole week.
Dinner included · Fly into EDI
Edinburgh open · Independent Spirits Festival
Morning is yours. Afternoon is the Independent Spirits Festival — the best single room of independent bottlers you'll stand in all year. Evening open for drinks and drams.
Festival ticket included · Morning & evening at own cost
North to Speyside · An evening with Little Brown Dog
Up through the Cairngorms, a stop at the Aberlour shop, into the Highlander Inn at Craigellachie for two nights. Dinner at Craigellachie Lodge, then a seated masterclass with Little Brown Dog — Scotland's reigning Independent Bottler of the Year — pouring their range and telling the farm-and-cask story firsthand.
Lodging, dinner & masterclass included
Ballindalloch, all day
Golf in the morning on the estate course along the River Avon, then the distillery — Scotland's first single estate distillery, barley grown, distilled and matured on site. The tour ends in single-cask tastings. For anyone who wants to go all the way in, we can broker a full single cask (~230 bottles) through The Whiskey Lab — a serious purchase, entirely optional and separate from the trip.
Golf, tour & tastings included · Dinner at own cost
Gordon & MacPhail, then the road to the top
A private Private Collection tasting at Gordon & MacPhail in Elgin — the oldest continuously trading name in independent bottling, pouring rare releases from closed distilleries that cannot be made again and no shop can sell you. Exclusive use, just our group. Then north up the Caithness coast, a stop at Wolfburn in Thurso, and into the cabins at John O'Groats.
G&M tasting included · Longest drive of the week · Dinner at own cost
8 Doors · Six people, one cask
The anchor of the week. A full working day at 8 Doors — the most northerly distillery on the mainland, first single malt made in John O'Groats in 185 years. Dinner that night with Derek and Kerry and the staff who spent the day with you. Details below.
Cask, dinner & tasting included
Orkney by ferry, then south to Inverness
Morning sailing across the Pentland Firth to Highland Park in Kirkwall — the only major brand on the trip, and worth breaking the rule for. Afternoon sailing back, then the drive down to Inverness for the night — a real town, real restaurants, and a civilized last morning.
Ferry, tour & tasting included · Dinner in Inverness at own cost
Inverness · Fly home
Relaxed morning and a fifteen-minute hop to the airport. Book nothing brutally early and leave a real connection buffer — Inverness usually connects through London or Amsterdam.
Fly out of INV
Wednesday 24 March · 8 Doors Distillery
You don't tour the distillery. You run it.
Not a tour with a fill-your-own-bottle at the end. The six of you split into three pairs and work the production line, start to finish.
At the end of the day the cask is yours — jointly, six ways, and included in the price. Hold it, or sell your share; The Whiskey Lab can broker that when the time comes.
Pricing
Twin or double in Edinburgh & Craigellachie, shared with your companion. The standard rate.
Your own room for the four hotel nights in Edinburgh & Craigellachie.
What's included
Included
- InterContinental Edinburgh, 2 nights
- Highlander Inn Craigellachie, 2 nights
- John O'Groats cabins, 2 nights — own bedroom, shared cabin
- Inverness, final night
- A sixth share of the cask filled at 8 Doors
- Private Private Collection tasting at Gordon & MacPhail (closed distilleries)
- Little Brown Dog masterclass with the founder
- Independent Spirits Festival ticket
- Ballindalloch — golf, distillery tour & single-cask tastings
- Wolfburn & Highland Park visits
- All in-Scotland transport, 9-passenger van
- Breakfast daily
- Dinner Friday, Sunday & Wednesday
- Orkney ferry crossings
Not included
- Flights — into Edinburgh, out of Inverness
- Dinner Saturday, Monday, Tuesday & Thursday
- Saturday evening in Edinburgh
- Travel, medical & personal insurance
- Bottles, merchandise & personal expenses
- Ballindalloch cask purchase (optional, ~230 bottles)
- Onward cask costs after filling — storage, duty, bottling
Reserve a place
Six places, by request. Tell us how many and how you'd like to room — we'll confirm availability and send an invoice. Nothing is charged online.
Email to reserve Full payment secures a place. All bookings are final — see the Whisky Tour Terms & Conditions.TWL Goes North — Edinburgh to Orkney
You don't come home with a bottle. You come home owning part of a cask — filled by your own hands at the most northerly distillery on the Scottish mainland.
Most whisky travel is a coach and a visitor centre. This is six people, a van, and a week of rooms you would not otherwise get into — a private closed-distillery tasting at Gordon & MacPhail, an evening with Scotland's Independent Bottler of the Year, Scotland's only single estate distillery, and two days at the top of the mainland running a distillery for a day.
One major brand appears on the whole itinerary. Everything else is independent, small, or both.
Day by day
Arrive Edinburgh · Dinner on the cask trade
Arrivals through the day, hotel check-in, nothing before evening. Dinner with McLean & Bruce — how casks trade, how they're valued, and the outsized mark independent bottlers leave on a business run by a handful of owners. The framing dinner for the whole week.
Dinner included · Fly into EDI
Edinburgh open · Independent Spirits Festival
Morning is yours. Afternoon is the Independent Spirits Festival — the best single room of independent bottlers you'll stand in all year. Evening open for drinks and drams.
Festival ticket included · Morning & evening at own cost
North to Speyside · An evening with Little Brown Dog
Up through the Cairngorms, a stop at the Aberlour shop, into the Highlander Inn at Craigellachie for two nights. Dinner at Craigellachie Lodge, then a seated masterclass with Little Brown Dog — Scotland's reigning Independent Bottler of the Year — pouring their range and telling the farm-and-cask story firsthand.
Lodging, dinner & masterclass included
Ballindalloch, all day
Golf in the morning on the estate course along the River Avon, then the distillery — Scotland's first single estate distillery, barley grown, distilled and matured on site. The tour ends in single-cask tastings. For anyone who wants to go all the way in, we can broker a full single cask (~230 bottles) through The Whiskey Lab — a serious purchase, entirely optional and separate from the trip.
Golf, tour & tastings included · Dinner at own cost
Gordon & MacPhail, then the road to the top
A private Private Collection tasting at Gordon & MacPhail in Elgin — the oldest continuously trading name in independent bottling, pouring rare releases from closed distilleries that cannot be made again and no shop can sell you. Exclusive use, just our group. Then north up the Caithness coast, a stop at Wolfburn in Thurso, and into the cabins at John O'Groats.
G&M tasting included · Longest drive of the week · Dinner at own cost
8 Doors · Six people, one cask
The anchor of the week. A full working day at 8 Doors — the most northerly distillery on the mainland, first single malt made in John O'Groats in 185 years. Dinner that night with Derek and Kerry and the staff who spent the day with you. Details below.
Cask, dinner & tasting included
Orkney by ferry, then south to Inverness
Morning sailing across the Pentland Firth to Highland Park in Kirkwall — the only major brand on the trip, and worth breaking the rule for. Afternoon sailing back, then the drive down to Inverness for the night — a real town, real restaurants, and a civilized last morning.
Ferry, tour & tasting included · Dinner in Inverness at own cost
Inverness · Fly home
Relaxed morning and a fifteen-minute hop to the airport. Book nothing brutally early and leave a real connection buffer — Inverness usually connects through London or Amsterdam.
Fly out of INV
Wednesday 24 March · 8 Doors Distillery
You don't tour the distillery. You run it.
Not a tour with a fill-your-own-bottle at the end. The six of you split into three pairs and work the production line, start to finish.
At the end of the day the cask is yours — jointly, six ways, and included in the price. Hold it, or sell your share; The Whiskey Lab can broker that when the time comes.
Pricing
Twin or double in Edinburgh & Craigellachie, shared with your companion. The standard rate.
Your own room for the four hotel nights in Edinburgh & Craigellachie.
What's included
Included
- InterContinental Edinburgh, 2 nights
- Highlander Inn Craigellachie, 2 nights
- John O'Groats cabins, 2 nights — own bedroom, shared cabin
- Inverness, final night
- A sixth share of the cask filled at 8 Doors
- Private Private Collection tasting at Gordon & MacPhail (closed distilleries)
- Little Brown Dog masterclass with the founder
- Independent Spirits Festival ticket
- Ballindalloch — golf, distillery tour & single-cask tastings
- Wolfburn & Highland Park visits
- All in-Scotland transport, 9-passenger van
- Breakfast daily
- Dinner Friday, Sunday & Wednesday
- Orkney ferry crossings
Not included
- Flights — into Edinburgh, out of Inverness
- Dinner Saturday, Monday, Tuesday & Thursday
- Saturday evening in Edinburgh
- Travel, medical & personal insurance
- Bottles, merchandise & personal expenses
- Ballindalloch cask purchase (optional, ~230 bottles)
- Onward cask costs after filling — storage, duty, bottling
Reserve a place
Six places, by request. Tell us how many and how you'd like to room — we'll confirm availability and send an invoice. Nothing is charged online.
Email to reserve Full payment secures a place. All bookings are final — see the Whisky Tour Terms & Conditions.
