The Isle of Arran

The Isle of Arran

“Scotland in Miniature” is what they call the Isle of Arran between mainland Scotland and the Firth of Clyde on the east and the Kintyre Peninsula and Kilbrannan Sound on the west.

The isle has a little of everything you’ll find in Scotland--the Highlands, the mountains, the lowlands, and the beaches--all on an island only 60 miles of small road around. 

Arran is one of our favorite places to visit in Scotland with its seven golf courses, interesting shops, 

castles, ancient standing stones, 

gardens, and whisky distillery.  From Cloanaig on the Kintyre Peninsula to Lochranza on Arran is only a twenty minute ride on the open decked car ferry.  

On this particular visit we stayed in two lodgings--the lovely Lilybank B&B in Lamlash and the Glenisle Hotel also in Lamlash.  We could only book three nights in the B&B and then moved literally next door to the hotel for our last night.  

We love Lilybank especially because the room we get has a grand view of Lamlash Bay 

and the Holy Isle, an island in the bay with its own Tibetian monastery.  On the northern tip of the island in the ferry terminal town of Lochranza is the Isle of Arran Distillery--always worth a tour especially since the tour begins with a dram of the 10 year old single malt whisky and ends with a special taste of the distillery’s Highland liqueur.  

Wort, draff, mash tuns, washbacks made of Oregon fir, worms, special barrels of whisky aging for special people (Prince William, Prince Harry, Ewan McGregor), faints, foreshots, and the smells of the Angel’s Share are all part of the tour.  A visit to the distillery set us up for a round at Shiskine Golf and Tennis Club at Blackwaterfoot on the west coast.  This course became twelve holes when men returning from World War I didn’t want to keep up six holes that were build on the side of Drumadoon hill--an eighteen hole course became the world’s first twelve-hole course--a number many visitors find just right.  

The course is one of the most beautiful in the world on a good day and can be brutal on a day of wind and rain.  On our second time around of this trip a farmer nearby was spreading a residual of the distilling process as a fertilizer which smelled of sweet whisky--what a lovely round that was!  Besides the golf Anne and I enjoy the special shopping on Isle of Arran.  Alone Anne spent time and money in Arran Aromatics for soaps, lotions, and other girly nice smelling stuff. 

I joined her for the shopping at Isle of Arran cheese.  Before we left the Island on the Brodick (the main island east coast village) to Ardrossan (Ayrshire on the mainland) large car ferry 

(a 55 minute crossing), we drove to the small coastal hamlets of Corrie and Sannox, just for the views.  

Four days on the Isle of Arran this trip was just enough to convince us to schedule another visit on our fall trip. 

I Got Screwed at the Machrie Bay Tea Room on Isle of Arran

After some shopping and driving around the south end of Isle of Arran we stopped at the Machrie Bay GC tea room for a latte and a sweet.  We’ve stopped here before and always enjoyed the break.  This day I ordered a latte and a fruit scone with jam and wandered off to the toilet in the back room of the restaurant.  On the way back into the eating area I turned the doorknob and felt a sharp pain on my knuckle--a screw was loose on the door handle and had sliced the knuckle on my index finger.  I got a bandaid from Anne, went back to the toilet to clean up my bleeding finger.  I did tell the waitress about the loose screw and she fixed it.  After the latte and scone I went to the counter to pay the bill which came to £7.05.  I gave the young girl £20.05 and expected £13.00 in change.  The girl thanked me and gave me back £12.95. Do the math.  I looked at her, she smiled and walked away.  I thought I’d teach the girl a lesson and left no tip.  In reality I walked to the car with a throbbing sliced finger having paid £7.10 for our £7.05 lattes and sweets.  In other words, I got screwed twice at the Machrie Bay Tea Room. 

The Weather, What Else!

A week and a half ago we were playing the links at Machrihanish on the Kintyre Peninsula in 40 degree rain with a 30 mph wind.  Yesterday we wilted in the 85 degree windless heat on a long moorland course at Strathmore.  

On the first part of our trip we didn’t have enough warm wool socks; now we don’t have enough short cotton socks.  The Scots are afraid that this spell of fine weather is going to be their only summer.  

We just wash out some clothes each day hoping we have enough of the correct garbs.  Ah, the joys of traveling in Scotland--we love it.    

Golfer’s Querry

Two days ago, as we were playing at King James VI GC on an island in the middle of the Tay River in Perth, Anne asked this salient question: 

“If as they say on the Golf Channel putts break toward the nearby water, which way do they break on an island surrounded by water?”

Scotland Spring 2012 #2

Extreme Golf

As we approached the golf course, Duff House Royal in Banffshire, Scotland, we kept an eye on the thermometer in the car.  All the way from Aviemore in the Highlands we had watched the outside temperature range from a high of 9° C to a low of 6° C (about 42° F) where it stood as we got out of the car in the club parking lot.  The wind was blowing in from the North Sea at between 15 and 20 miles per hour fairly steadily--it was a cold, damp wind that put the effective temperature on our skin between 32° F and 35° F.  I put on rain pants, long-john top, golf shirt, and a fleece jumper which meant I was barely warm, but at least I could still swing my clubs with some semblance of normalcy.  Anne had on several extra layers plus cold weather golf gloves and still complained bitterly about the cold.  Luckily it didn’t rain while we were on the course, although it was raining a few miles to the south, west, and east--north there was only the sea.  We both agreed that if it started to rain we were walking off the course.  The course is lovely, a classic 1910 design by Scottish golf architects James Braid and Alister Mackenzie (Augusta National, Cyprus Point, etc.). 

By the time we finished three hours later (we had to move quickly to stay warm) and went into the clubhouse for a warming dram of single malt Scotch, we were both bright red from windburn and chill.  This was probably the coldest golf I have ever played--even colder than playing frozen Arrowhead GC one January at 28°, but with no wind.  Anne did a great job playing survival golf at Duff House Royal, but I still won the match one up.  

The Aviemore Journal

As I sit at the dining table in our Scandinavian Village timeshare unit I can type this post on my MacAir and watch the alpineglow spread across the tops of the snow covered Cairngorm range.  We’ve been here for a week--a week of cold sun, rain and snow, and chilly wind.  It’s been a good week of golf, hiking, touring, driving, and eating.  Now it is time to share some of the images from our Aviemore (Highlands) week.  

On our first day in Aviemore we got enough breaks in the weather to ride the Cairngorm Funicular Tram to the top of Cairngorm Mountain (elevation 4078 feet, the 6th highest in the UK), tromp around in the snow for a few minutes, and then warm up with coffee and sweet in the Ptarmigan Restaurant.

Instead of lunch after the tram we stopped to play golf in spitting snow flurries and sun at Boat of Garten GC, one of the best heathland (heather and birch) courses in the world.  

Even with light flurries at times it seemed warm enough to take off my jumper (sweater), but only for a few minutes.  The next day started with a quick 9-holes at Ballindalloch Castle GC, a course we’d played once before.  After golf we again skipped lunch, this time in favor of a visit to the Scotland Osprey Centre at Loch Garten.  

We get spoiled having osprey on our home golf course, Arrowhead, but the Scots are justly proud of the reintroduction of the species with now about 200 birds nesting.  The thrill for us was viewing a wild male Capercaille, the largest of the grouse family (about the size of turkey), through spotting scopes at the Centre. There are only 1200 Capercailies known to exist.  Although I attempted to take a photo through the scope, the part of the head and beak I shot is not good enough to share.  Tuesday’s golf was at one of our favorite courses, Moray Old GC, one of the top 100 courses in the world. 

Clouds and wind greeted us at Lossiemouth where the course and an RAF base are located, but there was no rain.  

The golf was great and the Tornado jets landing just over our heads was a treat--a VERY noisy treat.  On the way back to our timeshare we drove a few miles of single-track road and then climbed up to the Ardclach Bell Tower, which had been used both for church services and as a prison.  

We stayed around Aviemore on Thursday and did mundane things like lattes and writing, shopping for gifts, getting a beard trim.  I did manage some time for some local forest photos 

and Anne and I visited Loch-an-Eilein with its castle in the middle of the loch.  

After hiking in the cold around the loch, dinner at The Rowan Tree Restaurant was especially welcome.  This was one of the best meals we’ve had in Scotland and we ate with Ewan McGregor, the Scottish actor who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars I, II, and III.  

Of course, he was at another table.  Drats!   I’ve already detailed the Extreme Golf we enjoyed on Thursday at Duff House Royal GC.  The rains came in late that day and they stayed most of the day Friday.  Our first job was to call to cancel the golf we had booked at Forres, but even the golf manager said canceling was a good idea--too wet, windy, and cold.  That left us plan-less.  A found Day--almost like a snow day when we were teaching.  We filled the day by going back to the Cairngorms, or at least to the snow line where I photographed an ancient Scots pine and lovely mountain burn.  

We discovered a wonderful mountain cafe, Glenmore Mountain Cafe. 

A folksy place with decent soup, sandwich, and apple strudel.  Most importantly, though, was the viewing area for the endangered Scottish Red Squirrel, endangered because the American Gray Squirrel is killing them off. 

It was a marvelous lunch with three squirrels feeding and frolicking and numerous birds trying to get in on the action.  What a week!  Not the kind we had planned, but the kind of week we’ll never forget.     

The Scottish Weather

As I said in the last post, I am going to comment on the Scottish weather: “Admiral, there be weather here!”  When we left home, Portland was just coming off a stretch of fine weather, finally.  In Amsterdam we landed in heavy winds and rain.  But we stepped out of Turnhouse Aiiport in Edinburgh into clouds, sun, and breeze--better weather than we’d left at home.  One afternoon doesn’t really answer the question of what weather will we have.  But Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were sunny with clouds as well.  The breeze, though, has made it cool--mid to high 40s.  As far as we are concerned this is almost perfect weather for both touring and golfing.  The Scots though are hoping for some warmer and even drier days--April here was the rainiest on record. 

I will say that driving west to Inveraray through snow capped peaks (between 2500 and 3500 feet) on our first Saturday was lovely enough to shoot over a hundred photos of the mountains.  The first full week has been clouds, sun, and cool temperatures.  We loved that!  Now we have moved to the Highlands, Aviemore in the Cairngorm National Park.  As we left Crieff light snow flurries accompanied our packing the car and we walked to dinner in more light flurries.  Tonight is to be minus two degrees--and this is May 5th!  The prediction is that it will be the coldest May on record. Oh well, we have winter fleece  jumpers and warm golf gloves.  Though we may have to buy orange golf balls for the snow!

My, What a Difference

Four inches often seems insignificant--I know certain of our friends are now saying, “Four inches can make a lot of difference!”  You know, we all have some of those friends.  I will say though that the four inches we gained by upgrading from economy to Premier Economy on Delta was well worth the dollars spent.  I was able to stretch my legs out under the seat in front of me without jamming into the seat ahead’s structure.  Our seats were able to recline further and the people in front of us could recline fully without smashing their headrest into our noses.  The trays came down without rubbing across our shirt fronts and we could get up and down in our seats so much easier than we could in economy. 

Anne pointed out also that we got on earlier--a definite advantage with how tight overhead storage space has become--and off sooner--a definite advantage just because after nine and a half hours we’re ready to get off the plane. Four inches.  Highly significant to a high jumper.  And as Anne and I will now attest, important to the comfort of the traveler.    

A Scottish Kirk

On the edge of Loch Awe in the west of Scotland we visited Saint Conan’s Kirk (church).  We knew little about the kirk, but had some idea that it had some interesting features.  Location was one of those features.  Sited on the edge of the loch with a view to the snow covered hills to the northeast, Saint Conan’s was indeed lovely in the cool spring sun. 

St Conan was reputed to have lived in the Glenorchy area and was a disciple of St Columba who brought Christianity from Ireland to Scotland in the 600s.  St Conan became tutor to two sons of the King of Scotland and eventually a Bishop.  The church we visited is not particularly old, having been dedicated in the 1930s, but the original church on the location was begun in 1881 and finished in 1886.  

Some of the most interesting features of the kirk include the tall Celtic Cross, the Cloister Garth, the Bruce Chapel, and a set of modern gargoyles.  

The Celtic Cross was erected on a knoll at the west end of the kirk by the builder in memory of his mother.  The cross is a fine example of funerary sculpture.  

The Cloister Garth, the best entrance into the church, serves no specific purpose.  Instead, the cloisters copy the design of larger Scottish abbeys simply for the love of beautiful design.  The Bruce Chapel contains a more than life-size effigy of King Robert the Bruce, the first king of a united Scotland. 

The effigy is made of wood with the face and hands of alabaster.  Below the figure of the King is a small ossuary which contains a bone of the King himself taken from Dunfermline Abbey.  Bruce’s body is buried in Dunfermline, his heart is buried in Melrose Abbey in the Borders, and a piece of him resides at St Conan’s--he was a King who certainly got around.  On the exterior of the kirk is a set of unusual modern gargoyles or waterspouts.  Figures decorating churches which are not functional spouts are called grotesques, regardless of how nice they may be.  The three gargoyles at St Conan’s are figures of two large-eared rabbits (likely Scottish hares) and one that looks like it was meant to be a hippopotamus. 

Usually we’ve seen carved-stone faces, demons, dragons, angels, lions or such animals.  Hares and hippos of metal are unique.  

Saint Conan’s Kirk is a thing of beauty being preserved for future generations and is a fine example of the sites we visit throughout Scotland.    

It's All in the Name

Ardvreck, Ochil, Spittal of Glenshee, Tulloch, Brechin, Amulree, Glamis.  All are Scottish names of some of the most interesting places we’ve visited in the past 19 trips to the land of haggis, bagpipes, castles, and heather.  But what do the names mean?  Is there significance to the name of the Highland cascades called the Falls of Dochart?  This post is really a chance for me to highlight a new set of photos and photo technique in the guise of explaining the background of place names.  I’ll start my photo journey of Scotland in our home base of Crieff, Perthshire, central Scotland between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The name Crieff comes from Old Scottish Craobh Cnoc meaning “Hill of Trees.”  The town originated as a trysting place (October cattle sale) which attracted drovers from all over Scotland.  It grew from the High Street up the knock (cnoc) or hill where the present Hydro Hotel and one of town’s golf courses resides.  The second largest town in Perthshire is now a perfect example of an historic Scottish village.  Just seven miles west of Crieff is another picturesque village, Comrie.

Right on the Highland Line, the division between the Highlands and the Lowlands and designating both the geographical and a social division of Scotland, Comrie is also known as Earthquake Central for its seismic activity.  In the 1830s, for example, local siesmologists recorded 7300 tremors “sometimes accompanied by a loud report and sulphureous smells.”   In fact, one of our favorite restaurants in the area is named Deil’s Cauldron (The Devil’s Cauldron).  The name Comrie comes from Scottish Gaelic comer meaning "river confluence"--at Comrie the Water of Ruchill, the River Lednook, and the River Earn all meet. A few miles up the road from Comrie is the Highland village of Killin (Cill Scottish Gaelic for “church” and fionn for “white”), home to one of the most scenic waterfalls in the country---the Falls of Dochart.  

Especially in spate this Highland river cascade earns it name.  Dochart in Scottish Gaelic means “evil scourer,” and anyone seeing the river in full flow would know that anything in the water’s path would certainly be scoured.  Heading north from Crieff up through Sma’Glen (a tourist trade name for part of the Glen of Almond) will bring you to the hamlet of Amulree--a couple of houses, and old tearoom, a deteriorating hotel, and a church.

The Amulree Church and its spectacular setting is what takes us back to the spot originally called Ford of Maelruabha, a crossing point of the River Braan named for a 17th century missionary who became the area’s patron saint.   From Amulree we continue north to Aberfeldy (from aber meaning “river mouth” and feldy a reference to a 5th century missionary St Paldoc) then west past Loch Tay to Weem and Castle Menzies.

 Castle Menzies, ancestral home of Clan Menzies, is sited in the hamlet of Weems which in Scottish Gaelic means “cave.”  There are plenty of tales of Scottish cattle theives and reivers hiding in the local caves.  Traveling northeast from Crieff Glamis (glahmz) Castle is one of the major attractions.

Glamis Castle, the home of the Queen Mum and Queen Elizabeth’s childhood home, is a lovely castle named for its location.  Glamis in Scottish Gaelic means “wide gap,” which refers to the situation of the village in the center of a broad valley between Sidlaw Hills and the edge of the Highlands.   Two more sights with interesting names are half a country apart.  First is the village of Crail on the East Neuk of the Kingdom of Fife (the original and maybe official name for the county of Fife) about ten miles south of St Andrews.

Besides having its own challenging golf course, Crail is known for its picturesque small port.  In fact, the name Crail comes from Old Gaelic carr meaning “boulder.” The dangerous Carr Rocks lie three miles offshore in the Firth of Forth.  Last for this post we travel north and west to the other side of Scotland to visit one of the most photographed castles in the UK, Eilean Donan Castle on Donnan’s Isle.

Built on a small islet at the entrance to Loch Duich, this castle’s name comes from a simple combination of location and family names.  Eilean in Scottish Gaelic is “island” and Donan refers to the the Donnan family who were associated with the castle.  Whether from Old Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, or family names, whether referring to places or saints, the names of Scotland’s sights add to and fuel our fascination with Scotland.

The next post on this blog will be from Scotland, where our friends in Crieff have been basking in wicked sunshine while we languish in waterlogged Oregon.  Wait to see if our first post talks about the rain we brought with us or the sun we snuck into.  Slainte!  (Scottish Gaelic for “Good Health.”)

Scottish Potpourri

Are You Here Again?

This spring’s trip to Scotland will be our twentieth since our first trip in September of 2000.  Friends, relatives, and even strangers ask why we go back to Scotland so often.  The answer is extremely simple and complex at the same time.  We love Scotland--the people and the land.  What makes that answer complex is when they ask, “Why do you love it; what is there about Scotland to love?”  The short answer to that question is that we love the history of the country and being able to visit that history whether it’s Stirling Castle, Bannockburn, Culloden, the Ring of Brodgar, or a local distillery.  Mostly though we love the people we met on our nineteen trips.

One special group is the people we’ve met on golf courses--over and over again.  At Tulliallan GC on Fife not far from Dunfermline we met George the first time we played the course.  He’s a prominent member of the course and we were introduced to him by the club secretary who was our host as we toured the course to write about it.  A year later we went back for a second visit and George caught up with us as we waited on the eighth tee for a slow group of blind golfers in front of us.  No joke, the golfers were all legally blind, though most had some sight.  They helped each other aim and then find their shots, and that’s why we ended up waiting a bit that day.  As we were standing on the eighth tee George came up and introduced himself and then said, “I remember, I met you last year.  You were writing about the course.”  We visited as George finished the round with us.  Fast forward two years.  Anne and I returned to Tulliallan to give them a copy of Hidden Gems II: Scotland and Wales.  As we were getting our gear together for a third round on the course, George came out of the clubhouse, spotted us, waved, and said, “You here again?”  What are the odds of seeing the same person (who doesn’t play the course every day) on the three days out of four years when we visit the course?  

                                  Tulliallan Golf Course

George isn’t the only repeat meeting we’ve had.  At St Fillans GC in Perthshire where we are members, we’ve run into the same English family (father, mother, handicapped adult daughter) five or six times over the years.  They visit the Perthshire area for a few days each year and we’ve managed to play golf with them (or in front or behind them) several times.  They’ve even become good customers, buying our books and promoting them to others.  

                                          St Fillans Golf Course

That’s a profitable repeat meeting. Several years ago we played Boat of Garten GC in the Highlands behind a group of four average golfers (not that we are that much better).  We waited quite a bit on that round.  The next day we were to play Fortrose and Rosemarkie GC on the Black Isle north of Inverness.  When we arrived we learned that we had been scheduled to play behind the same four chaps as the day before.  When they saw it was us going to follow them they kindly let us go first.  They said, “One day of slow play is enough.”   It was very nice of them, and we enjoyed our round and a bowl of soup in the clubhouse before they got finished.

In writing our three golf travel guides we’ve met more than two hundred secretaries, managers, professionals or captains of golf clubs.  It’s almost always a pleasure to meet these locally important people.  Several of them we’ve met more than once, and a few not in the same location.  One year we enjoyed a round and lunch in the company of Andrew Shinie, golf manager at Inchmarlo GC along the River Dee west of Aberdeen.  

                                  Andrew Shinie and Anne at Lunch, Inchmarlo GC

A year and a half later we were heading into the golf shop to check in for a round at Blairgowrie’s Lansdowne Course when we were hailed, “Bob and Anne.  Fancy seeing you here.”  It was Andrew who was no longer managing Inchmarlo, but was guiding golf tours of Scotland.  It seriously impressed us that after one meeting he would recognize us so quickly.  Bill Baird was managing Kingussie GC on the edge of the Highlands when we played the course.  A couple of years later we got a nice message from him about our first book which included Kingussie GC.  This past fall when we took a copy of our first book to Carrbridge GC in the Highlands the (volunteer) manager was the same Bill Baird who had retired from Kingussie GC.  He said, “I already have a copy of that book, but that was from a different course.”  At Gleneagles we had a special thrill when we were guided around the Queen’s Course by John Murray, the Gleneagles’ Head Teaching Professional.  A couple of years later we were surprised when we showed up to play Moray Old GC in the north of Scotland and the professional said, “I know you two.  We played together at the Queen’s.”  John had left Gleneagles to take the position of Head Professional at the Moray Golf Club.  We keep going back to Moray Old, one of our favorite courses, but keep missing John as he’s either off competing somewhere or on vacation.  We miss visiting with him, but we’re getting to know his able assistant pro, Andrew.

                                          Anne with John Murray at Gleneagles

Whether it’s the clerk in the local whisky shop in Crieff, the barber who trims my beard when we’re in Aviemore, or a golfer we’ve met before, we highly prize the Scots we meet more than once in our travels.

WHEN WE GO BACK IT’S NOT ALWAYS THE SAME

As I update our first Scotland travel guide, Scotland’s Hidden Gems: Golf Courses and Pubs, I am trying to check the accuracy of the information I put in the book.  We have replayed many of the courses to pick up any changes the course has made.  We’ve stayed again at several of the B&Bs so that we can be sure we note any differences.  When we can’t go to a place or talk with them we use the web to make sure the place is still open, or still owned by the same people, has the same menu, etc.  Even with all the checking we can still miss some.

 I have managed to discover some drastic changes  to make to the revised edition of the book.  For example, we are sorry to have to leave out the Taymouth Castle golf course in Kenmore at the edge of the Highlands.  I tried to book a round for this year’s spring trip, but found I couldn’t.  Ownership of the course has changed.  The new owners who also bought the castle (originally built for the Earl of Breadlebane in 1842) which has been abandoned for a couple of decades are refurbishing the castle into an upscale resort or condos.  They are also doing significant redesign work to the 1921 James Braid designed Taymouth Castle golf course.  The saddest part of all this is that the course will no longer be public, instead it will be for development owners and renters only.  They are now out of the book.  Another change we  have to make was discovered last autumn when we visited one of our favorite pubs, Kimberely’s Inn in Findhorn on the Morayshire coast in the north of Scotland.  We had played golf at Moray Golf Club, one of our favorites, and were looking forward to the great seafood chowder served at Kimberely’s.  The inn is still there but so were the flies.  The owner apologized and said something about their fly control system was waiting for the repairman.  He then wandered through the bar’s two rooms with a rolled newspaper swatting at and smashing on the tables the offending flies.  If that wasn’t unappealing enough, the chowder we got was watery, lacked flavor, and significantly lacked fish.  We left saying we would have to seriously rethink our recommendation.  We’ll give Kimberley one more chance, but our revised book tells readers to check with locals before planning to stop.  

                                             Storm Clouds over Findhorn Bay

Sometimes our checking isn’t enough.  We recommended Trevose B&B in Dornoch to our B&B family in Crieff when they were going north to play Royal Dornoch GC.  We had stayed several times and liked the B&B which has a lovely garden and is in perfect location next to the cathedral.  The report of our friends was disconcerting.  The bedrooms were shabby, cold, and not very clean.  The breakfast was average at best.  Everything about the place seemed tired, including the owner.  As we thought back to our last visit to Trevose a few years ago, we thought that everything was all right, but the owner had said she was thinking of retiring.  I guess she should have.  It too is now out of the book.  We try to check that our comments and recommendations are accurate, but with restaurants and B&Bs particularly things do change.  And in a few cases we couldn’t keep up with the changes.  

OPPS!  MISSED OPPORTUNITY.

On our first trip to the Isle of Arran, Scotland in Miniature between the Ayrshire coast and the Kintyre Peninsula, we took the tour of Isle of Arran Distillery in Lochranza in the northwest corner of the island.  We were early enough in our travels that we had taken tours at only two or three other distilleries--we’ve now taken tours at 31 distilleries in Scotland and Ireland.  The distillery tour was very interesting --Isle of Arran Distillery was quite new having opened in 1995--and we learned a great deal.  At one time there were more than 50 distilleries on the small island, most of them illegal, but now Isle of Arran is the only one.  As usual the distillery tour ended with a dram of the local product, in our case an eight year old Arran Single Malt.  We thought the whisky tasted a little young--most single malts are bottled after ten years more in oak casks--and decided not to buy a bottle.  We also passed up on a special offer to participate in a Cask Owner’s scheme: buy a cask (about 250 bottles when mature), and after ten or more years, sell the cask back to the distillery or bottle it for yourself.  The cost at that time was about $1200-1500, and even after paying excise duty and storage, after ten years there should be some profit, or so the sales pitch went.  We thought about it for a few moments, but decided we didn’t have that kind of money to throw away on a whim.

                                  Browsing the Whiskies

Fast forward ten years to 2012.  A cask of Arran Single Malt we could have bought for $1500 in 2002 would now bring about $15,000 when selling it back to the distillery.  That’s a thousand percent profit in ten years!  Where else could you find that kind of return on your investment?  The money may have sounded dear on that first visit, but the quality of the product and the reputation of the distillery would have turned a pretty profit.  Oh, if we had only....