The Glencadam Distillery Tour

Glencadam in Brechin has just opened its newly built visitor centre, so we thought we'd go on the Glencadam Distillery Tour...

From the outside you'd be hard pressed to guess that the entire visitor centre is new as the team worked hard to ensure the building materials were sympathetic to the historic distillery by using the same stone, most of which is recycled. When you enter the visitor centre you will find yourself facing the reception and shop, to your left through a partition wall is a foyer – this is where your tour will start.

The foyer is furnished with many information boards giving an overview of the distillery's history that you can read while you waiting for the tour begin – don’t worry if you don’t have time to read them now, you can always come back after your tour has concluded – or even if you're just here for the café or bar rather than a tour.

Entering through a bright red barn door an immersive virtual tour of Glencadam's history begins; this part of the tour lasts approximately 30 minutes and each room has benches to sit on along the walls, as well as plenty of standing room. Here we get lead through a brief history of the practise of illegal whisky distilling throughout the Highlands; what led Glencadam to eventually be established as a legal distillery, and the rise and fall of its fortunes, the role it played in both World Wars, it’s purchase by Angus Dundee Distillers in 2003 and restoration works leading to today. The final room of the virtual tour gives a condensed rundown of the ingredients needed for and the process of distilling whisky, which the guide will go into much more depth on in the next section of the tour.

Upon exiting the visitor centre it's a short walk to stand outside the distillery – this is where accessibility will start to become an issue – here the guide will give you a brief overview of the rules and safety precautions for entering the working distillery. Notably no photography or video is permitted; specifically because the friction of taking phones in and out of pockets runs the risk of igniting flour particles in the air, which would cause an explosion or fire.

Glencadam distillery was built in 1825 – 200 years ago! – and entering requires climbing a metal staircase with more inside and there are no lifts so if you cannot ascend stairs you will not be able to do the ‘distillery’ part of the tour. Both the stairs and platforms inside are constructed from metal grating so if you use a stick or crutch you should consider that the ‘floor’ you will be navigating is not ‘solid’ and the likelihood of a furrel falling through the grating and getting stuck. If you cannot stand for long periods but can manage stairs let your guide know and they will show you where it is safe to lean at each stopping point of the tour as there are no seats on the distillery platforms.

It's important to remember that this is still a functional distillery and whisky is actively being made during your visit – machines are turned off briefly per platform for the group to enter each section and are turned back on as soon as the tour moves on to the next. This also means that the platforms and walkways need to be kept otherwise clear for the workers and so cannot be furnished with benches or seats for visitors due to the limited space available.

Once you exit the distillery it's a short walk to the store houses – which are wheelchair accessible. Here the guide explains that final, crucial process of whisky making; barrelling. This is also where you can take a picture to prove you got to go behind-the-scenes at Glencadam – no threat of friction-triggered explosion here!

Finally we go to the tasting room! Here each guest is provided with three different award-winning Glencadam whiskies at various price ranges to taste. This room is intimate and cosy – something you'll be looking forward to after being outside and in the warehouse – with six dark wood tables and benches to sit at. The tasting includes not only a walkthrough the differences in the process of making each of the sampled whiskies – and a look at the bottles in case you want to go and buy one immediately – but also a short tasting notes quiz; I felt particularly sophisticated when one of my suggestions was not only correct but had apparently not been picked up on by a guest yet (I am choosing to ignore the fact that the visitor centre only opened earlier this month!).

Once the tour is finished you exit the tasting room and find yourself in a classy little bar – which is open to the public from 10:00-17:00 – where you can enjoy more whisky, or head straight through and into the visitor centre’s reception with the shop and foyer.

Glencadam also has a café if you need to soak up some of the alcohol from your system before leaving, which is located on the upper floor of the visitor centre and is accessible via lift. With floor to ceiling windows the café has lovely views over the distillery as well as a balcony seating area for when the weather is good, and a separate function room for private events.

Three out of the four locations on the tour are wheelchair accessible, however you are stuck waiting back at the visitor centre or outside while the rest of the group go into the distillery itself if you cannot climb stairs. As of right now there is no reduced price offered in these cases; you pay the same as those who can do all parts of the tour. There is also no reduced price for those who are interested in the distillery’s history and process but do not (or cannot) drink the samples at the end.

Overall this was a great experience and I’m glad I did it, but on a different day I would have been unable to do the distillery portion of the tour… I have some ideas on how to potentially make the tour more inclusive for those who cannot enter the distillery without effecting the historic building or disrupting the distilling process.

Accessibility
per Mobility Device

Stick / Crutches:

Walkers:

Wheelchairs:

Powerchairs:

Yes

Partially

Partially

Partially

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