Visiting a Scottish distillery without wasting the day

A gin distillery visit is a different proposition from a whisky one. The sites are smaller, the tours are shorter, and there is far more chance of being shown round by the person who actually makes it. That is the appeal. It also means capacity is tiny and turning up unannounced often does not work.

Book. Almost everything on this site that runs tours runs them at fixed times for eight or twelve people, and a small distillery on an island may run one a day, or none in February. Seasonal closing is normal and is not always obvious from a website that has not been touched since the summer.

Think about the driving before you think about the tasting. Scottish drink-drive limits are lower than those in England and Wales, and a tasting flight at the end of a tour will put most people over. If you are driving, say so when you book — every distillery is used to it and most will send the measures home with you instead. Planning two distilleries in a day only works if somebody is not drinking, or if you have picked two in the same city.

On islands, the ferry is the constraint, not the distillery. Car space on the popular summer crossings goes weeks ahead, and a cancelled sailing in bad weather rearranges the whole trip. Build slack in, and do not make the distillery the reason the day works or fails.

Edinburgh is the exception to all of this, and the easiest place in the country to do it properly: several working distilleries inside the city, most with a bar attached, all reachable on foot or on a short bus. If you want to try three Scottish gins in a day at the places they are made, that is where to do it.

And a small point of etiquette that catches people out: at a distillery this size, the person pouring is very often the owner. Ask them what they would drink it with. You will get a better answer than any tasting note.