Whisky Galore for Sick Kids

Background Information

The Distilleries

We originally identified 103 distilleries that we believed should be visited. In the end it turned out to be 111. It was our intention to visit all operating and about to operate distilleries and all “silent” distilleries that could come back into production at some time in the future. We also decided to visit distilleries that are museums and warehouses because the buildings still have a strong connection with the whisky business. The only ones that were not visited were those that have been demolished and those that will never be brought back into production.

Route

There are distilleries all over Scotland and the distance for the optimised route between them is, within reason, very similar regardless of the starting and finish point. It was therefore decided to start in the south and finish at the famous Highland Park Distillery in Orkney. The total driving distance for the proposed route was a little under 1500 miles and it was hoped to complete the course in 6 or 7 days and visit at least 50 distilleries in the Speyside area in 12 hours. The chosen route started at the Bladnoch distillery just outside Wigtown. The idea was to go up the west coast to the distilleries in and around Glasgow and then on to the Islands, ending up at Oban. From there the route was to take us Mull, then back to the mainland and on to Skye and then Inverness. From here the route was to go south and then cut across to Edinburgh and then up the east coast to just sooth of Speyside. It was to then be the “big hit” before continuing up the east coast and on to Orkney for Scapa and, finally, Highland Park.

Motorcycles & Riders

The two motorcycles that did the trip were a 1971 BSA Lightning and a 1968 Triumph Trident. The Lightning was loaned to Bernie Elliott by Clive Bowen and the Trident loaned to Tony Ferrige by Peter Hislop following a major mechanical failure on Tony’s 1956 Velocette Venom.

Records & Logs

A complete time log and photographic record was maintained by the riders and the two backup crews.

Auction Value of the Collection

The average retail value for a bottle of standard malt will be around £20-25. However, older malts will have a greater value, in the region of £50-60. In addition, it was hoped to obtain most of the standard blends, many of the merchant bottlings and as many special bottlings as possible. For example, our local MP, Jim Paice, donated a bottle of “House of Parliament” whisky. In all, almost 200 bottles were collected and all are signed by distillery staff, suppliers or well know people. For example, bottlers have been signed by Jim Paice, Tony Blair & Iain Duncan Smith, Margaret Thatcher and Mohamed Ay Fayed.

Well over £2000 was spent on special bottles to make the collection more interesting and its retail value is just over £8500. However, its auction value should be worth many times the retail value, particularly with all the bottles being signed.

Auction Date

We are now avaiting final details but the auction is planned for August 2003 at a special sports personalities dinner. Full details as soon as they are available.

19^th May 2003-05-19