Private whisky tour is the way to go! Alexander did a zoom meeting to get exactly what we wanted and then tailored a 6 day, 5 night trip exactly to what we wanted and what we didn’t know to ask for! 3 nights in Islay with a variety of tours and tastings, then two nights in Aberlour and included a cooperage and distilleries we didn’t even know about (but should have). Jamie was our tour guide and also took us to castles, ruins, beach sunsets, etc, while constantly entertaining us with history and stories of old and current Scotland. We visited 11 distilleries plus a couple of Whisky bars during those 6 days. We started in Edinburgh and ended in Glasgow to connect with another tour we had lined up (with a different focus).
Accomodations were superb–a restored mansion on Islay, and a quaint boutique hotel in Aberlour with a whisky collection above all others we saw on this trip. Suggestions for restaurants were spot on. This will be a highlight of our travels for years to come. We can’t say enough good things about Alexander for arranging it and Jamie for being our guide. He even met up with us for a drink later in our travels when we hit his home town. Above and beyond call of duty!