3-day London to Scotland distillery holiday plan

Start in London, taste, experience, learn and end up in London. We offer you a 3-day tour from London to Scotland with a car to visit some of the best distilleries along the way, as well as gastro pubs and award-winning fine dining restaurants.

Day 1

You start from London early in the morning towards Manchester and along the road, you are making a short lunch stop at The Hopwood House just outside Birmingham, a modern countryside, family-friendly pub/restaurant in a traditional canal side building. Our recommendation is the chicken ‘the Rotisserie Way’ which delivers evenly cooked juicy meat, incredible flavor and crispy skin. Everything is prepared with care and passion to be simple, but tasty rustical food. Be careful not to overeat because there is still a long way to come. After the nourishing lunch, you are heading up to the award-winning Manchester Gin Distillery, established in 2016, creation of Jen Wiggins and Seb Heeley. Both immediately shared the love of gin and tonics and have met in a Manchester bar, and in 2015 they decided to develop and launch their own gin together. The flagship Manchester Gin has 12 botanicals including Manchester-inspired dandelion and burdock root. It is distilled in traditional copper stills, which the first of which is called Wendy, named after Jen's mother. After the guided tasting tour you will be heading to the Midland Hotel to overnight located in the city center of Manchester, where you will be expected for dinner in the fine dining restaurant The French. The restaurant is known for its elaborate dishes made from the finest seasonal products from all over the country and its award-winning wine list.

Image Source: Hopwoodhousepub

www.hopwoodhousepub.co.uk; +44(0)121 445 1716

www.themidlandhotel.co.uk; +44 (0) 161 774 7051

2020 London Wine Competition top wines list is out. If you are looking for a good reference guide on which wines to buy at your local supermarkets, wine shops, restaurants, or which wines to order online, London Drinks Guide highly recommends these wines as they were scored on quality, value, and package. These wines were judged by top UK trade buyers and Masters of Wine. Also, check out the top 100 wines to drink for more options.

Day 2

Early in the morning, you will hit the road to Scotland to visit the distillery with the slowest and longest distillery process in the whole country, the legendary Glengoyne Whisky Distillery. But before that, you will be making a pit stop for a quick lunch at the Black Bull in Sedbergh, Cumbria. This is a modern and contemporary gastropub focused on slow-grown meats sourced from traditional breeds from the local area. The dishes are with a twist that and inspired by the fusion style of head chef Nina Rich’s Japanese heritage and husband James Ratcliffe’s Dales upbringing. Being completely spoiled by the food and the hospitality of the Black Bull you are heading to the Glengoyne Distillery in Killearn near Glasgow. The distillery is established by George Connell in 1833 in the Highland region on the border with Speyside and is considered to be at one end of the malt whisky style with clear, bright, subtle, complex and at the same time delicate. A contrast to the rugged malts of the northern Highlands or the pungent and medicinal heavy malts of Islay. For your night stay, you will be driving to the outskirts of Edinburgh to the Bridge Inn gastropub in the small and picturesque village of Ratho. This is only the pub in the village and it is a community pub in the heart of the village, where you can blend in with the locals. The owners take pride in growing delicious locally produced food, including their own homegrown vegies and bred pork. Everything is to die for, and do keep some space for pudding.

Image Source: BridgeInn

www.theblackbullsedbergh.co.uk; +44 (0) 15396 20264

www.glengoyne.com; +44 (0)1360 550 25

www.bridgeinn.com; +44 (0)131 333 1320

Day 3

The first thing in the morning is that you will be driving to the capital of Scotland to visit the Edinburgh Gin Distillery in the heart of the city. Founded by the famous Ian Macleod Distillers in 2010, this is a must-visit place. A boutique distillery producing small-batches and a dynamic range of gins for every occasion, and they are dedicated to guiding peoples’ discovery of the modern-day gin experience. Alongside the classic Edinburgh Gin, you have to taste the Sea Side Gin infused with shoreline botanicals and marine plants including scurvy grass, ground ivy and bladderwrack to create a gin with distinctive minerality. After the guided tour you are going for late lunch to the 16th-century manor house, now 2 Michelin star dining restaurants with rooms in Aughton near Liverpool. The place is just divine, worth the detour on the way back to London. After the intricate lunch, you will be visiting the Bimber Distillery situated in North Acton, West London. It is an exceptional distillery which offers a range of fascinating, unforgettable tours and tastings experiences. You will be taken on a journey through the world of crafted whisky production, see the bespoke distilling equipment in action before enjoying a tasting at the distillery bar. The whiskeys are made in very small batches and in a meticulously traditional way with a lot of passion.