Perthshire Whisky – Blair Athol, Dewar's and the Glenturret
Two days by car, from Perth to Blackford.
The route
Two days among the stills of Perthshire, with a night in Aberfeldy between them.
Day one runs up the A9 from Perth to Pitlochry for Blair Athol, which dates its whisky to 1798, and stops in the town for lunch. It then follows the Tay west to Aberfeldy and the distillery the Dewar family built there, with an old oatmeal mill full of books to end on. Day two crosses the hills by the Sma' Glen to Strathearn, for the Glenturret on the Turret Burn at the Hosh, outside Crieff, and lunch in the town. It ends at Tullibardine in Blackford, facing the Ochils and beside the A9. It is two tours a day, with one of you at the wheel throughout.
Before you go
Book a night near Aberfeldy
Book a bed in or near Aberfeldy as soon as the dates are set. From a bed in the town the car stays put and dinner is a walk; from one further out, the driver, who has tasted nothing all day, drives to dinner.
A mile awayThe House at Dun AluinnSleeps 18
11 miles awayJuniperSleeps 2
Blair AthollMilton of KincraigieSleeps 4
14 miles awayThe Old FarmhouseSleeps 8
16 miles awayLoch at Redhill RetreatSleeps 2
16 miles awayKin at Redhill RetreatSleeps 2
16 miles awayRannoch at Redhill RetreatSleeps 2
16 miles awayKinSleeps 2
16 miles awayLochSleeps 2
20 miles awayLarch HouseSleeps 6
22 miles awayThe Cabin at FairygreenSleeps 2
24 miles awayMurrayshallA place to stay
24 miles awayFairygreen CottageSleeps 4Book the Signature Tour on Blair Athol's site for a start by 11am, as early as you can, since dates are usually released about six months ahead: an hour, three drams (small measures), from £21.
Book the Dewar's Aberfeldy Experience on its site for a start about three hours after Blair Athol's, which leaves that tour, lunch in Pitlochry and the half-hour drive: 90 minutes, two drams, from £25.
Book the Glenturret Distillery
Book the Glenturret's first Whisky Tour of the day on its site, at 11.30am on some days and 12.30pm on others: an hour, two drams, from £20 at the time of writing, and no refunds.
Book a tour on Tullibardine's booking page, or ring 01764 661809, for a start three hours after the Glenturret's, which is 2.30pm after an 11.30am tour and 3.30pm after a 12.30pm one.
Day one
Pitlochry and Aberfeldy
A day up the A9 from Perth to Pitlochry, then west along the Tay to Aberfeldy. The morning is Blair Athol's, at the southern edge of Pitlochry, with lunch in the town after it. The afternoon is Dewar's, on the edge of Aberfeldy, and the day closes among the books at the Watermill.
1 hr 24 min at the wheelAbout 42 miles
Blair Athol Distillery
A tour
It's 50 minutes' drive up the A9 from Perth, past Dunkeld, to Blair Athol, on Pitlochry's southern edge; the distillery asks drivers to allow plenty more for the roadworks. It dates its whisky to 1798 and calls it a full-bodied malt that shaped Bell's Scotch. Book a Signature Tour starting by 11am: an hour, three drams (small measures), no under-8s. Scotland's limit is 50mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood, and one drink can put a driver over it, so the driver takes the drams away in a pack.
3 min by car
Pitlochry
An attraction
Pitlochry, 3 minutes' drive on, is a largely Victorian town on the River Tummel that grew into a resort after the railway came in 1863. Lunch is on Atholl Road: Hettie's Tea Rooms serves from 11am to 4pm every day, and Victoria's opens at 11am for brunch and lunch. With half an hour over, walk down to the dam, where a fish ladder takes salmon up past it into Loch Faskally.
27 min by car
Dewar's Aberfeldy
An attraction
Drive 27 minutes back down the A9 to Ballinluig, then west on the A827 through Grandtully to Dewar's, on the edge of Aberfeldy. John Dewar and Sons opened the distillery in 1898, and Dewar's calls it the only one the family built. Its Aberfeldy Experience shows how the Aberfeldy single malt is made, then pours it beside Dewar's own Scotch: 90 minutes, from £25, children welcome. Book a start about three hours after Blair Athol's. The driver books the Drivers' Tour ticket and takes sample bottles home.
4 min by car
Aberfeldy Watermill Bookshop & Cafe
A café
The Watermill on Mill Street, 4 minutes' drive into Aberfeldy, is a three-storey former oatmeal mill that Michael Palin opened as a bookshop in 2005. It is full of nooks, with a children's room, a gallery and a café for coffee and home baking, open until 5pm, so come straight from the tour. The night is in or near Aberfeldy: from a bed in the town, leave the car and walk to dinner; from one further out, the driver, who has tasted nothing, drives.
If it rains
Rain changes little today. Both tours, lunch and the Watermill are under a roof, and only the walk down to Pitlochry's dam is out in the weather. If it pours, leave the dam and give the Watermill longer.
Worth a detour
- Iain Burnett Highland Chocolatier
The road to Dewar's passes Iain Burnett's chocolate shop at Grandtully, 18 minutes from Pitlochry and 9 short of the distillery. It opens every day, 10am to 5pm, with guided chocolate tasting flights until 4pm and last orders in its Chocolate Lounge at 4.30pm; from 11 January to 12 March it shuts an hour earlier. Stop only if there is time in hand before the tour at Dewar's.
PitlochryHettie's Tea RoomsTea room and loose teas
PitlochryVictoria'sOn Pitlochry's main street
StrathtayGrandtully HotelA restaurant
PitlochryCafe CallunaPitlochry café and bakery
PitlochryThe Old Mill InnInn in an old corn mill
PitlochryAtholl Palace HotelBaronial hotel dining room
AberfeldyGlen Lyon Coffee Roastery and CafeA café
MoulinMoulin Hotel and BreweryVillage inn, its own alesDay two
Strathearn
A day over the hills to Strathearn, by the narrow Sma' Glen and down to Crieff. The Glenturret comes first, at the Hosh on the Turret Burn, then lunch in the town. The afternoon runs south through Muthill and past Gleneagles to the A9 and Tullibardine at Blackford, facing the Ochils.
1 hr 15 min at the wheelAbout 39 miles
45 min by car
The Glenturret Distillery
It's 45 minutes' drive from Aberfeldy by the A826 and the A822 through Amulree, the Sma' Glen and Gilmerton, then through Crieff to the Hosh, north-west of the town. Leave an hour and a quarter before the tour; a drink at last night's dinner can still count against the driver this morning. On the strength of a rental document of 1763, the Glenturret calls itself Scotland's oldest working distillery. Book its first Whisky Tour: an hour, two drams, from £20, no under-8s. The driver's dram is a small bottle to take away.
5 min by car
Crieff
An attraction
A 5-minute drive takes you into Crieff, the hillside market town where Highland drovers once brought their black cattle to the October tryst, the great cattle market. James Square, at its centre, was laid out in 1731. Lunch is here, not at the distillery, with an hour for it after either tour. Delivino on King Street opens at noon from Monday to Saturday, and the Tower, a pub with a full menu, at noon every day. G's Bistro serves lunch from Thursday to Saturday, with last orders at 2pm.
25 min by car
Tullibardine Distillery
It's 25 minutes' drive on the A822 through Muthill, then the A823 past Gleneagles to the A9 and south to Blackford. Tullibardine, made from an old brewery in the 1940s and silent from 1993 to 2003, says it is one of few in Scotland to do everything but the malting on site. Book a tour three hours after the Glenturret's; its booking page has the tours and prices. Ask for the driver's drams, measures to take home. The route ends here, half an hour from Perth by the A9.
If it rains
Today is indoors: two distilleries and lunch in Crieff, each with its car park close by. Rain changes nothing but the view through the Sma' Glen.
Worth a detour
- Tullibardine Chapel
Tullibardine's own story says the distillery was named after this chapel, which stands alone in its graveyard, among pine trees, off the A823, 19 minutes from Crieff and 10 from the distillery. It is a mostly unaltered church of the 1500s, with the Murray family's coats of arms inside. Historic Environment Scotland opens it free every day from 1 April to 30 September, 9.30am to 5.30pm, with the last entry half an hour before closing; it is shut from 1 October to 31 March. It sits on working farmland. From the chapel the way on is the A823 and the A9 south to Blackford, as from Crieff.
Photographs by Visit Scotland / Kenny Lam; The Glenturret Distillery, Robert Hamilton and Martin Hofer via Google