Whisky Forum - Bladnoch tour

5-12-1908 · Master Of Malts Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Posts: 307

Had a weekend in Kirkcudbright and toured about......as you do.

Anyway, I managed to "pass" the Bladnoch distilery and talked the other half into a tour.

Have to say although it was only Â£3 it wasnt much of a tour. The place was covered in dust, and the rep told us it only produces in winter.
When I asked if I could take a photo of tthe still, I was given this long spiel about it being against health and safety!!!
I know it isnt against health and safety (unless the flash is a dangerous weapon) and if she'd said "No....we dont want the chance of competitors seeing anything (unless they pay Â£3 for the tour)" I would have accepted it.
All in, a little dissapointing, although I bought a 22yo at the end, along with a tasting glass.....not sure what the little glass lid is for Rolling Eyes

Has anyone tried the Bladnoch 22? I have to keep mine for a while before I can try it.

William · Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 12:26 pm Post subject:

I dont know what type of fire safety system they have at Bladnoch but it is possible they have flame detectors as part of the system. It is very unlikely but i suppose it is possible that a flame detector can be set off by flash photography. Modern flame detectors should ignore potential false alarm hazards such as arc welding so a flash from a camera is unlikely to set off a false alarm. Flame detectors usually incorporate a delayed response to minimise responses to non-fire sources of radiation so if set up properly a flash from a camera should never generate an alarm.

There are a few distilleries that do not allow photography and i do think they may have been wrongly advised about what will set off their fire alarm. There are some which i believe simply use it as an excuse to prevent you taking photos.

I havent tried the Bladnoch 22, i tried the 20 year old last year and it was a decent lowland malt, citrusy, vanilla, honey and a bit of oak spice from its time in the barrel.
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There's no bad whisky. Just good whisky and better whisky.

bifter · Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 3:47 pm Post subject:

I got the same spiel on my visit to Fettercairn the other day, though clearly they used to allow photos if you check online. I wonder if the fear is that, if anything were awry, a photo could be used against them by the HSE. Sometimes H&S regimes are over-egged through simple risk aversion (control freakery to some).
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Creed · Master Of Malts Joined: 29 Aug 2010 Posts: 291

My opinion is some distilleries think they are protecting the profitable visitor side of their business by not allowing photography.

DavidUK · Double Malt Member Joined: 20 Mar 2010 Posts: 174

I've been to dozens of distilleries and Bladnoch was certainly in the top three. Mind you, I'm not bothered about taking photos at distilleries so that woudn't be an issue for me.

Plus, they make fantastic whisky and one of the most underrated distilleries in Scotland along with Balblair

nitram · Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 8:21 pm Post subject:

sorren · Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2013 6:36 pm Post subject:

I have been to bladnoch a few times and enjoyed the tour immensely, I have taken many photos and never been told I couldn't so not sure if its a new policy... The 22 year olds is a good dram, almost ready for my second bottle, will be heading to bladnoch and Auchentoshan again in September so I'll see what happens then

5-12-1908 · Master Of Malts Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Posts: 307

sorren · Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 8:20 pm Post subject:

I know they have had new staff , one of the staff had moved to Auchentoshan, so when we last visited ( June ) there was new staff.. I don't mind the dirt, it adds to the image .. Besides I work in worse I bet ... It's just a shame the distillery wasn't still in operation, the Whisky is too good to loose ...