Highland Tour Of Northern Whisky Distilleries

We had a lovely time! Our guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining. Would definitely recommend this tour to others.

Absolutely amazing! We booked multiple tours and couldn’t recommend enough. Sarah was our tour guide and she was so knowledgeable. I loved hearing her stories!

Driver George was punctual, friendly, provided interesting locsl info and stops. I would happily use him again.

The tour was excellent. It's very one on one with the driver George, a local Highlander who has many anecdotal stories and histories of the areas. Great knowledge of the area and things to see.

Great day with Robert being very flexible in making sure we saw the primary distilleries we were interested in & threw another in on the way back. Also took a couple detours to see local golf links I was interested in.

Great day out with George. The scenery was breathtaking. It was great to see the Gorse in bloom. Can only imagine what it must be like with the Heather is full colour. Balblair Distillery was definitely worth the visit. The gardens at Dunrobin were beautiful and the Falconry demonstration was really interesting. Found out we have been pronouncing Glenmorangie wrong for too many years to name. On our way back to the hotel we got to see Jamie and Katie. George dropped us off outside the hotel with the great recommendation of a fish supper from Fat Buddha's.

We ended up on a private tour with George and had a fantastic time! We recommend the northern Highlands tour if you want a mix of sightseeing (castle, lookout viewpoints, Highland coos) and some whiskey tastings. We thoroughly enjoyed the Balblair Distillery tour and learned a lot from it. It was nice to have the Dunrobin Castle tour break up the tastings. They serve hot lunch options at the castle. George was great with providing information about the area during the tour. If you want a more dedicated whiskey tasting tour, then perhaps the Speyside tour would be the better option. Please note that George helps book the Balblair whiskey tour, but the tour and/or tasting fees are not included (you pay when you get to the distillery).

George was so much fun!  He kept in touch over email and helped us plan our trip to Scotland. He picked us up at our B&B in Inverness. He helped us make the most of our short time in the Scottish Highlands and had us back at the station with a comfortable margin to catch our train.  George is VERY knowledgable about the Highlands area around Inverness and made sure we didn’t miss a thing. His van was super comfortable. And as a extra touch of authenticity, he came in full traditional Scottish attire. If I come back, I’ll be getting ahold of George!

My husband and I ended up on a private tour with George (well, one of the George’s, there are two). He drove us around Inverness and stopped at some amazing picturesque panoramic views prior to our whiskey tastings. Balblair was hands down our favorite tour and It was a completely unexpected treat. The guide at the facility was very personable and informative. We learned so much about the whiskey process and the stills used to create these masterpieces. Although we didn’t tour Glenmorangie, we enjoyed the tasing and gift shop. Also, Isaac at Singleton was incredibly knowledgeable and allowed us to sample whiskeys that we would have never been able to try at home in the US due to availability (or lack thereof). Side note, tip your guide. We asked Google if it was appropriate and Mr. Google lied to us. We neglected to tip George and he was amazing.

It’s the hidden treasures we are seeking - the road less traveled. Got an early start from the town of Inverness, meeting our tour director George. With a quirky sense of humor and deep local knowledge, it was easily one of the best tours we’ve had. There’s so much to see and experience in the northern towns and villages. Some well known distilleries, yet off the beaten path: perfect for our tastes. So many amazing encounters with folks having a lifetime of experience making some of the best whisky’s. My advice, if you get the chance to spend day touring with George, take it.

George was wonderful! Great guide on the way to each distillery. The distillery experience was also good, but the castle was honestly my favorite part. Would highly recommend!

The tour was good for learning and seeing lots of the country side at your convenience. The guide knows the area very well and can make adjustments as needed to suit your wants (vs the constraints of a tour bus with 40+ people). It is however a lot of driving and a long day, and due to the nature of the area it is difficult to see everything in a day. Discuss with the guide in detail ahead of booking if possible to see if this tour is right for you. I think if you truly only want to do just whisky tours/tastings to make that a bit more clear so you can potentially book other tours at other distilleries prior to so you have more time for tastings. Also note: George will book the full tour of the distillery but you still have to pay for the tour once you get there. Overall great tour and George is so nice and knowledgeable! He even added a quick stop to see Jamie Frasier the Highland Cow.

We had a great time visiting 3 distilleries and visiting the castle along with the falconry show. George was knowledgeable, engaging and willing to tailor the day to the groups preferences. I highly recommend this tour, next time we come to Inverness we will take it again.

This was a great tour! Based on the availability of the vendors, the timing, and the wishes of the group, we visited Balblair and Clyneleith distilleries; the ruins of Beauly Priory; Dunrobin Castle; and the Dornoch whisky bar. All that plus we fit in a visit to see Highland Cows on our way out of town. Sara is an outstanding tour guide; she’s from that area and was able to tell us so much of the history. I would highly recommend this tour for more than just whisky.

Sara asked us for input on preferences to fill in some time. One stop was the castle bar in a little village. Had a great whisky selection and the staff were friendly and knowledgeable. Willing to help and answer any questions. I got to try a unique limited availablity 58yro whisky. Great experience.

Be ready for a great tour guide. Extremely personable. Very very respectful. Drove us to some absolutely stunning parts of the highlands - places we would never had known about had we been on our own. Highly highly recommended.

George tailors this tour in ways to exceed your expectations and interests. We wanted to limit the distilleries and see more local geography and landmarks. We talked a bit and he gave us more than we could imagine and would have done more if we hadn't ended the tour. Important little things like frequent opportunities for restroom stops at clean public restrooms not at tourist stops with lots of buses and tourists set him apart. We never felt that were just on a catalog tour making all the same stops with the rest of the tourists. Balblair distillery, one of the oldest, was unhurried and an opportunity to see the whole operation like a member of the owners family. We were able to see and get close up photos of highland cows, an old village church, small villages, Dunrobin Castle & Gardens, falconry show and many beautiful vistas. George is authentic, experienced, knowledgeable and understanding One of the best tours we have ever taken.

Dunrobin Castle was wonderful! Bob did a fantastic job workng around various Sunday closures, keeping us well entertained for the day.

We very much enjoyed our tour with George. He is very knowledgeable about the tour sites & surrounding area. He is also very personable.

George was incredibly knowledgeable and great conversation during our whisky tour. Would highly recommend to anyone looking to explore the whisky regions Around Inverness.

Sarah was a really great tour guide and driver. She had a lot of interesting stories. She was knowledgeable and personable.

We completely enjoyed our day with George! Our private tour planning started with a brief chat - where we discussed our interests in truly touring the highlands and hoped that our tour guide could curate our experience. Our hopes were exceeded! We were treated to the most extraordinary day of sightseeing and learning about the Highlands. From the distilleries to the castles and beyond, George ticked all the boxes. (We even met a couple of Highland Cows!) If you are looking for a comprehensive tour with guide that shares his passion for his country, this is your best choice! We highly recommend.

Really had such a fun day, had an accidental “private tour” (just me and my friend) and George came through for us in a big way. A lot of good places are hit, 10/10. Strongly recommend the falconry/castle tour if able!!!

If there is a way to give ZERO stars I would. I don’t know how this person is still in business! We were booked to have this tour on our last day in Inverness on our honeymoon. Everything was confirmed and reconfirmed two weeks prior by our travel agent and I was sent the emails to prove it. On the day of the tour HE DID NOT SHOW UP!!! We were ready and waiting 15 minutes BEFORE the pickup time and stayed until 45 minutes AFTER the pickup time. I called and emailed George SEVERAL times with no response and my travel agent reached out 4 additional times and GOT NOT RESPONSE. Absolutley horrible customer service. I can understand if something happened or if there was an emergency, but to GHOST everyone involved is just truly unprofessional. BUYER BEWARE.

The tour guide blew us off, stopped responding to texts and emails, and never took us on the tour. Once payment was processed he stopped communicating with us. He is a scammer.

The tour was canceled due to the weather, although we made it to the area on our own during the day and the weather was not bad at all. I would like to get my refund ASAP

This was our first time in Scotland and it was an absolutely great experience! George was the best! He taught us a lot of history in between some great whiskey tastings. We would absolutely recommend to anymore visiting the area

George was an excellent guide and ensured the day ran smoothly. He was fantastic and showed us so much on the way to our destinations. I would recommend this tour!

George led us on a wonderful whisky tasting tour. Not only does he have a good knowledge of whisky but he knows the region. He took us off the main roads to see beautiful scenery and places that interested us. We had a great time!

Our guide, George is nice, personable, and definitely knows his way around the highlands. The tour lasted all day, be prepared to bring or buy your own lunch, as only one bottle of water was provided, as stated. He picked us up and dropped us off right at our hotel. If you're looking for a whisky tasting tour, this is not it. First distillery we got a half-price tour with 2 tastings because there was construction in the still room, we couldn't go in and see the stills. They also don't toast the barley there anymore, so didn't see that. Second distillery had an event going on, no tour or tastings but you could buy a drink. Third distillery closed for tours. Disappointing because George told us he'd been doing tours for over 20 years. Just think a check should have been made beforehand regarding availability at all the distilleries. We went instead to Dunrobin Castle, which was phenomenal and should be added to the tour regularly. George did feel bad about the last distillery being closed and took us to a little whisky shop in a small town where we got one free tasting. Good day overall, nice being chauffeured around the wonderful highlands. If you want to tour the highlands and don't care that much about whisky tasting, take this tour. If you're serious about whisky tasting, there might be better options

We had a fantastic tour with George, visiting lesser know distilleries plus the cooperage. George is knowledgeable and fun. Recommended.

Visit tour at one of the distilleries was amazing. Tour guide was very experienced of the Highlands area and we even stopped in couple surprise sights on the way. Day well spent!

We had an amazing time with Nigel. He spent the whole day with us and took us to two distilleries, Dunrobbin Castle, and made so many fun stops along the way.

George was great by adapting the tour to our needs. By far, Clynelish distillery tour was the most impressive. Glenmorangie was too commercial and Balblair disappointing.

George was excellent. He took us to 4 distilleries and was able to tell us all about the local history along the way. It was a more personalized experience. Some tours might have cancelled us due to no other bookings but George took us. We are recommending him to our friends!

We got more than a tour of distilleries, we got great insights into the history and culture all around us. This is a must do tour!

I highly recommend Johnny! He was punctual, very knowledgeable about the Highlands and made arrangements for us along the way for whisky tastings, snacks, local highlights and history. He went above and beyond what we expected on our day tour!

George escorted us around the area and made fabulous suggestions. We loved the Clynelish Distillery tour and Dun Robin castle. George is knowledgeable and friendly and made sure we had a wonderful tour.We would take a tour with George again and highly recommend!

Fantastic day trip of speyside with George! Wonderful experience, George the best guide possible with education, humor, and knowledge about the distilleries as well as the highlands, one of our best trips. Thank you George!

George is the owner and tour guide. His first focus is making sure you have a great time and enjoy your day. He is flexible on itineraries and we really appreciated that. We really enjoyed his knowledge of the area and his humor. Me and my son were the only ones on the tour that day but he didn't cancel on us like others. We used him for two different distillery tours. I would use him again and again. Thanks George for the amazing memories!

The scenery and whisky are amazing but so was the time with George in the van. He is funny knowledgeable and flexible.

What a great way to see the Scottish Highlands! George was a fabulous host and shared information and stories only a local could as we traveled the beautiful countryside. At his suggestion, we were even able to substitute one of the distilleries for a stop at Dunrobin Castle…so glad we did! The tour at Clynelish was amazing and we felt like VIP’s! So much better than any excursion offered from our ship and a much better price and George had us back to port with time to spare!

We ended up exploring the Speyside region due to a lack of open distilleries in the North. George picked us up at our Airbnb in Inverness and we joined one other couple for the day. We made it to four different tasting rooms. Along the way we stopped to see highland cattle and other points of interest. George is a great driver and has deep knowledge of the area. For lunch we grabbed meat pies and sausage rolls to go. It was perfect.

George is clearly a professional. Comprehensive knowledge. Entertaining company. Punctual. Always adding his local experience and changing the route as conditions permit to ensure you see as much as possible. Absolutely fantastic day. Balblair in particular not to be missed.

Our guide was very knowledgeable of the area and tried very hard to get us into the best distilleries dispite all the covid restrictions

We absolutely loved our time on this tour. George is a fantastic, informative guide and a great driver too. A couple of the distilleries were already fully booked (covid restrictions keep the numbers low) so George suggested a few others to try instead and they were amazing! We ended up going to Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Glen Grant & even a cooperage to see how the barrels are made. All of which I highly recommend. Big thanks to George for a memorable day :)

George was amazing, easy going, fun and funny. He was very well organised and did his best to accomodate during these strange Covid times where some of the distilleries were closed. I highly recommend this tour, the distilleries are amazing and informative. George’s knowledge of the land is great, and he has a lot of fun personal stories about the area as well. I’ll make sure to go on any tours with George in the future.

We had planned this tour a year ago but covid happened. Stayed in touch with George as we really wanted to have him be our guide, and had a wonderful time seeing the beautiful natural scenery and hearing loads of stories about the Highlands both now and in the past. He looked after us really well and it was a very special birthday treat that will be fondly remembered, slainte!

I wanted to book a trip where myself and my husband were the only passengers but I wasn’t paying stupid money, and this trip fitted the bill. We had an excellent trip with George, who went out of his way to find us as many distilleries as he could. Unfortunately because of coronavirus many had shut their doors to visitors. Unsurprisingly none of the distilleries we did visit were doing tours of where they do production, but the ones we visited for tastings were well worth it. The highlight for us was Glenmorangie. We’d highly recommend a day with George, a true gent and Highlander.