Jump to content

Whisky Distillery


cleanerg6e
 Share

Recommended Posts

On my 2007 trip to the UK I went to the Highlands and decided to take a tour around the Dalwhinnie Distillery. I got there in plenty of time and bought a ticket for the tour. Whilst I waited I had a look at the history of producing whiskey at Dalwhinnie. There was a male and a female staff member behind the counter talking in English amongst themselves. I had my video camera hanging from my neck. When the tour was about to begin and we were all at the door that led into the distillery the female staff member told me in no uncertain terms that it was strictly forbidden to video inside the distillery. There was no signs in the public foyer or on the walls and she never said anything when I bought my tour ticket even though I had the camera hanging from my neck.

I need not have worried as the tour was about as interesting as watching paint dry.

There was a large group on our tour from America and when we were back in the foyer having a tasting session she said something and then announced "that's Gaelic". Well I'd had my fill of this woman and said in a loud voice "oh so you only speak Gaelic when the Americans are around because when I came in here to buy a ticket for the tour you and your work mate were speaking English amongst yourselves. So you only speak Gaelic to impress Americans and don't speak it all the time". Neither I or the American tourists bought any whiskey and just finished tasting the free samples and left.

The whiskey at Dalwhinnie was very nice but ohhh sooooo expensive. I did buy some Dalwhinnie whiskey....at Heathrow airport duty free, and in fact the only place in the UK where I saw it on sale.

In Wales I found the welsh talk welsh freely to each other and only speak English when someone like me asks a question. So why not the Scots.

Over here my local bread shop has Vietnamese people who speak Vietnamese freely to each other and only talk English to the customers.

I don't look upon all Scots as being like those I came across at Dalwhinnie and found the remainder of the people in Scotland to be very pleasant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been on many, many distillery tours, starting back in the days when they didn't have tour guides and one of the workers, or on a couple of memorable occasions the distillery manager, has been our guide.

In my experience they all speak exclusively in English. They will usually explain the gaelic origins of the word whisky -"uisge beatha" while on the tour and then introduce the traditional gaelic toast "sláinte mhaith" once they've given everyone a dram of their product in the tasting room.

Many distilleries ban the use of flash photography in the Still House. The reason given for this is that it could cause the alcohol vapour to explode. I would say this is highly unlikely, but 5 people lost their lives last week in an explosion of an illegal still in Lincolnshire! Some distilleries extend this ban to all photography, probably because some people are incapable of turning off their automatic flash, or don't understand english. And from there it's not much of a stretch for some members of staff to stop the use of all cameras and video cameras for the sake of an easy life.

You can't have been too unimpressed by the tour if you still purchased a bottle. I did a tour of Highland Park in 2004 and the tour guide was dreadful. I've bought over 100 bottles since then and not one of them has been a Highland Park.

More generally, the Scots don't chat in Gaelic. I have heard it on the Western Isles and very occasionally on Mull and Islay. But parts of the country have never been been Celtic. The north has a heavy Norse influence so Gaelic has never been spoken on Orkney or Shetland and once you get to Sutherland and Caithness the station signs only have the English name on them without the rather pointless gaelic name underneath.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes Chris I bought a bottle at Heathrow NOT Dalwhinnie due to the very high price for tourists. "fleece them for every penny they've got" mentality.

They may have banned video cameras due to other distillery owners who MAY employ spies to see how their process is done. But they should have had signs up saying "no still or video cameras allowed in the distillery".

There are spies on the internet who cruise forums to see if comments are favourable to manufactures or not.

I'm not one of them.

Of my two visits to the UK that's the only time I've been angry at the treatment of myself by British people.

My Mum had one bad experience on her visit in 2000 in a coffee shop in Birmingham when she asked for a black coffee and was told that her request was racist.

We have coffee with or without milk. NOT black or white coffee.

I also HATE political correctness.

Roy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like they are funny lot at the "Highest Scotch Whisky Distillery in the World".

Dalwhinnie is owned by Diagio, the worlds largest drinks company. I've toured many of their other distilleries and I can't remember any issues with cameras or videos. I've got some great photos of Coal Ila Still House looking out over the Sound of Islay with the Paps of Jura in the distance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

My Mum had one bad experience on her visit in 2000 in a coffee shop in Birmingham when she asked for a black coffee and was told that her request was racist.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Things like this are usually invented by white people who think that other ethnic groups MAY be offended.

I would imagine that on the whole they don't give a damn!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes you're probably right Ian. On my thread of the blue King on 24 coaches someone said it would be OK and realistic if I were modelling Indian Railways. When I read the comment I thought to myself " oh goodness gracious me". Yet over here we had Indian students supposedly being bashed in Victoria. The Indian Media went berserk with stories on the telly in India that Indian students were being targeted simply because they were Indian and that Australia is a racist country who doesn't care for anyone who isn't white. When the Commonwealth Games were on in India the authorities over there erected huge wooden hoardings in front of the slum dwellers so that the foreign media wouldn't see how the Indian authorities treat their own people.

We have people coming over from China to study and then to live permanently and they have no intention whatever to learn English. If told they should learn to read, speak and write English they reply "that racist". If I decided to live in China I would have to learn Mandarin as it would be very arrogant of me to expect the locals to speak English because I was too lazy to learn Mandarin or Cantonese.

Roy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...