Distilleries near Stirling

[Alexppp]

I'm going to be visiting a friend in Stirling in a couple of months, so naturally I'll have to take advantage of the opportunity and pop into a distillery or two. Am I right in saying that the two nearest distilleries are Deanston and Glengoyne?

If so, which one would you recommend between the two for a visit? My prime consideration is the bottle your own, more so than the tour itself.

[William]

Glengoyne is always an enjoyable visit. I haven't been to Deanston since it first opened to visitors a few years ago, it has probably improved since then but I would recommend Glengoyne before Deanston. If you don't mind venturing a little further Tullibardine isn't too far from Stirling, it is at Blackford Perthshire, just off the northbound side of the A9 dual carriageway.
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There's no bad whisky. Just good whisky and better whisky.

[sorren]

Alexpp when are you there ..
Auchentoshan isn't too far from glengoyne.. And they do a good bottle your own.. I would check with glengoyne as every time I have visited the bottle your own has been unavailable 😢

[Diademo]

I’ve been in both (Glengoyne and Deanston). It’s impossible to say that one is better than other - they are simply different.

I had great time in Deanston - if you call in advance they can arrange special tasting in the management building (try to speak with Mrs Belen at the Visitor Centre).

Glengoyne is becoming a mass tourist attraction. Nevertheless, you can spend some great time in the tour - I asked for something special and left distillery after 4 hours of incredible experience (Mrs Anna was particularly helpful organizing everything).

I would not recommend visit to Tullibardine distillery. This was probably the worst experience among 20+ distilleries I visited in last years. If you decides to go there, bring a tasting glass with you - maybe you will have opportunity to taste juice directly from the casks (they are not allowed to carry glasses in the warehouses).

Take is slowly and enjoy!

[Alexppp]

Thanks all for the detailed replies. Sorren, we're going to be there from the 10th to the 14th of June - thanks for the suggestions, Auchentoshan is a possibility too. It'll be the bottle your own that will swing it since I have a feeling we won't have time to visit more than one distillery.

William, have you been to Tullibardine? Given that I haven't tried any of their whisky - and especially going by Diademo's advice - it's probably behind Glengoyne and Deanston (and now Auchentoshan too) in terms of priority.

[sorren]

Alexpp..
Shame.. I'm there the week before you.. I'll let you know what Auchentodhan have on offer.. ðŸ"

[Kenny M]

Glengoyne is always a good visit and not far from Auchentoshan.

[William]

[Carson]

A big influence on me when visiting distilleries is the whisky available to taste and buy, so out of your near by possibilities I would choose Glengoyne

[raithrover]

Deanston is excellent nowaday as is their cafe. Also some very interesting distillery exclusive bottlings in the shop.

Glengoyne is also good but you need to pay a bit more for a tour that is interesting. And Auchentoshan I enjoyed plus the bottle-your-own is the only way to experience what the distillery should be producing.

[Diademo]

I always try to arrange a private tour for the distillery visit - you pay a bit more but experience is worth the money. If you have time to spare (between 2-5 hours) you are usually able to tailor made it. In some distilleries I prefer a short walk through the production process and spending more time in warehouses and tasting room but there are places where I prefer to spend some additional time discussing the process. I always ask for the most experienced person for the guide (usually I have to arrange this well in advance).

[Alexppp]

[STUDOGG37]

I was at Deanston today, we are under 20 miles away.

The bottle your own is £75 and I think it was 60.1%, you can bottle a 70cl,20cl and it looked like a 10cl. My wife tried this and also the 20 year cask strength (£110).
They also had a new distillery only numbered bottle 2008 edition, which was £65 or 60.

If you are in Stirling, go to the Curly Coo bar, it is a very wee pub but they have a good whisky selection. Also visit the Stirling whisky shop, up beside the Stirling Highland Hotel.
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[Alexppp]

Thanks Studog, very handy tips!

[Alexppp]

I'm now back from my short trip to Scotland and managed to squeeze in visits to both Deanston and Glengoyne (which was no mean feat given I was the only whisky drinker out of myself, my wife, our friends and our hosts!). Now, even though I'd been to Scotland before (Aberdeenshire mostly) that was before I was into whisky, so these were my first distillery visits. Out of the two, I preferred Glengoyne for three main reasons:

1) It is by far the more picturesque and beautiful distillery of the two, so it was ideal for a first visit.

2) The tour itself was better - there was nothing wrong with the Deanston tour guide, who knew his stuff, but his Glengoyne counterpart was clearly very enthusiastic about all things whisky and extremely informative.

3) I prefer Glengoyne whisky to Deanston anyway.

I'm sure a lot of people here have been to both, and Glengoyne is certainly the more touristy of the two distilleries, but luckily that didn't mean the welcome and tour were impersonal - quite the opposite in fact. Maybe I got lucky because the group was very small, but the impression I got from everyone I spoke to was that they all care about Glengoyne beyond the usual marketing stuff. Deanston gave the impression that it was more of a tour run by someone who works for Burn Stewart without having any particularly close ties to the distillery itself (though no disrespect to Declan, who conducted the tour well).

I was also lucky that the two tours complemented each other to an extent, with Glengoyne focusing more on the process and Deanston spending more time in the warehouse, which I appreciated.

The whiskies I tried were the Glengoyne 12, 15, 18, 21 and NAS Cask Strength, as well as the cask they had in the shop, a 12 year-old refill bourbon. At Deanston I had the Virgin Oak, 12, 18 and 20 year-old Cask Strength, which unusually for Deanston (at least in my experience) was fully matured in sherry casks. It was also the highlight from the Deanston visit - a very robust sherried dram completely different to the distillery's usual grassy, cereal-y profile.

The tasting at Glengoyne was better organised, with the 12 year-old offered in the beginning as a welcome dram, followed by the tour, followed by a chat in the tasting room with the other drams. By contrast, the Deanston tasting was done in more of a hurry towards the end.

From the Glengoyne offerings, I have to say that I didn't find the 18 to be sulphur-tainted as others have said, so it might depend on the batch. They were clearly pushing their sherried range with their emphasis on their cask selection in their tour, as well as their record in competitions. I have to say that, as subtle and polished the 21 year-old was, I seem to prefer my Glengoyne from bourbon casks. I'll have to try the 21 again though - it came at the end of the tasting, by which time my palate might not have been as receptive as before.

Finally, I have to single out Emma at the Glengoyne shop, who really went the extra mile (and beyond) to accommodate my wishes. I came home with a hand-filled bottle which, from the sample I was given, was very impressive. Unfortunately my budget was a bit limited or I would have filled my own bottle at Deanston too (in their case an 11 year-old refill bourbon).