Annandale Distillery – A Tour, Four Drams and Lunch
A few hours.
The route
Annandale Distillery first made whisky in 1836, then lay silent for about 90 years until its owners restored it and opened it to visitors in 2014.
An hour's tour takes you from the kiln to the warehouse with four tastings along the way, and lunch is in the Maltings Coffee Shop across the cobbled courtyard. It's a good morning for whisky lovers, with driver's drams for whoever is at the wheel.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
None of ours is close by: the nearest is The Scullery in Yarrow, 37 miles away. Sleeps 2; next free Fri 13 Nov to Sun 15 Nov.
Book the Classic Tour on Annandale Distillery's website before you go, for a time that leaves lunch after it (the Maltings' last hot food is at 3.30pm): it runs an hour, costs £25 a head at the time of writing, takes no more than 12 people, and offers driver's drams.
Tables can be booked online; afternoon tea at least 48 hours ahead.
The day
Annan
An hour among the casks and the copper, and a relaxed lunch in the courtyard café.
About two and a half hours
Annandale Distillery
An attraction
Annandale Distillery is just north of Annan, signed in brown through the town. Park in the main car park at the top gate, or in the bottom car park, 50 yards from the entrance, if you need the disabled spaces. Book the Classic Tour on the distillery's website before you go. It takes an hour through the restored buildings, with four tastings, its single cask single malts among them, and costs £25 a head at the time of writing, with no more than 12 on a tour. Driver's drams are on offer for whoever is driving. Children may come if an adult keeps them close. Wear flat shoes: the old floors are uneven, and the stairs and metal grating in the production rooms can't be reached by wheelchair, though the kiln, the filling store and the warehouse are level.
The Maltings Coffee Shop
Lunch
Lunch is a few steps away across the cobbled courtyard at the Maltings Coffee Shop, open every day from 10am to 5pm, with the last hot food at 3.30pm. It serves breakfasts, soups, sandwiches and homemade scones and cakes, with a children's menu and a dog menu too, and its afternoon teas come from the chefs of the Globe Inn in Dumfries. It's level from the courtyard through glass doors, and tables can be booked online.
If it rains
The tour and the café are both indoors; only the cobbled courtyard between them is out in the weather.
Where to stay