More Whisky

With the magic I had found in Mull still coursing through me I stepped off the ferry in Oban and made my way, in the wind and rain, to the Oban Distillery to check the schedule for guided tours. With the schedule in hand I excitedly headed back to the hostel to drop my bag, warm up, and decide where to grab some lunch. I decided on C’mon Café just around the corner from the distillery, which turned out to be an excellent choice. I ordered a baguette that came overflowing with grilled meat and onions, topped with slightly melted cheddar cheese, accompanied with a simply dressed tri-colori salad, and a bowl of perfectly seasoned and equally delicious roasted tomato soup. Full and absolutely happy I paid my bill and walked around the corner to the distillery. Before the tour there was a short video that gave a brief overview of the climate and terroir that make this whisky one of the best in the world. Beginning the tour I was surprised to find that not only is Oban one of the oldest but also one of the smallest distilleries in Scotland, thought they produce one million bottles each year. Continuing along the one hour tour I found out that given the size and the fact they still produce one hundred percent of their whisky on sight, they are able to take more time with the whisky making process than the other, larger, distilleries. Again supporting my opinion that it is one of the best whiskies around. Towards the end of the tour we were given a special treat, a cask tasting directly from a barrel from 1996. Fantastic! We finished the tour in the tasting room with a drum of one of my favorite whiskys, the Oban 14 yr. The rain had stopped and the wind had died down so I decided to head to the harbor and find a nice spot to sit and take in this wonderful little town in the western highlands.


Sitting here I realized my story with Oban actually began almost two years ago as my best friend Kevin and I were doing inventory at Kincaids. One night, after we had finished doing the inventory we decided to begin a journey around Scotland by working our way through all the scotches on the back bar. Each week we would try two or three scotches side by side and make notes on each. When we got to Oban we both agreed it was one of our favorites (the tour confirmed the impressiveness of our palates). When I was planning my trip to actual Scotland, it was for this reason and this reason alone that I chose to visit Oban. I have always looked back fondly on those nights we tasted our scotches, but now, the night we “went” to Oban is one I will forever be thankful for. If it wasn’t for that night I wouldn’t be sitting on this bench in Oban, the “gateway to the isles”, I wouldn’t have found the magic on Mull, and most importantly I wouldn’t be contently falling in love with Scotland. Eventually I pulled myself away from the bench and walked, almost as if I was in my own world, back to the hostel. Once there I showered, made some dinner, and relaxed in the common area with some people I had met earlier in the day.

As it usually goes, we started with a couple of beers, which led to a card game, which led to heading out to a pub, and eventually back to the hostel to shoot some pool before climbing into bed sometime around 5:00am. Only bad thing, I had to wake up at 7:30 for an 8:15 train. Guess what… I made it, RUNNING!