The Famous Grouse Experience

Our first tour was the Famous Grouse Experience where the Glenfiddich brand of single malt whisky is made. Scotch wiskey is a huge part of Scottish heritage dating back to ancient Celtic times. The process used in modern distillary is the same that was used way back when. We thought taking the kids on a learning expidetion when it involves a "wee nip of the water of life" would be not only educational but also tasty. The process is pretty straight forward.
1. Steep barley in water until the point of germination occurs. This releases enzymes that help break down the starches in the grain and helps convert them into sugar.
2.Dry the malted barley using heated air. Sometimes peat is used which gives a VERY distinct flavor to the scotch!
3.The dried grain is ground into a fine powder called grist and put into a vat with a lot of hot water. There it is left to steep. More breaking down of starches occurs and the mixture ends up something called wort.
4.The wort is poured into another vat so it can cool. Yeast is added and the mixture is allowed to ferment.
5.The mixture is then sent through the still
6.The scotch is then diluted a little bit before it is put into casks to age.
7.The scotch is put into oak sherry barrels to age for a minimum of 3 years before sale.
8.The scotch can be diluted a second time for a "bottling strength" of 40% to 46% or it can be sold as "cask strength" at 50-60%.
At the end of the tour, we tasted a few of the Grouse brand beverages - Snow Grouse, and Black Grouse. Snow Grouse is ment to be kept in the freezer and has hints of vanilla. Black Grouse has a very strong smokey flavor. Both are awful and taste like paint thinner.
While we were at the Famous Grouse Experience, we decided to jump into Scottish heritage with both feet and ordered some haggis for all of us to try. You will see in the photo below how haggis is served. The haggis is in the middle and on either side are "neeps and tatties" or mashed turnips and mashed potatos. You are supposed to load your fork with a little veg then haggis then veg, take a bite and sip your whisky. We all tried it. Haggis isn't really that bad. The thought of it is what makes many people say "NO WAY". (remember it is the heart, lungs and liver of a sheep mixed with spices, oatmeal, suet, onion, salt and stock then placed in the stomach and simmered for about 3 hours.) The texture is a little like corned beef with the flavor a little more spiced. The part I found tasted the worst was the turnips. They are just too strong in flavor for me. Like I said, we all tried it, even the kids and we all decided it wasn't horrible.
We all liked this tour. It was really informative and it gave the kids and us a chance to to try some new things.