A Day in Craigellachie

July 6, 2025

One of the difficulties of a longer trip (six months instead of our usual three) is that there is a little more planning to do on the go. I struggle with keeping up to date on the journal and then the extra planning just comes on top of it. We recently had a planning glitch that I have been struggling to manage. We were planning to meet friends in Wales in August, and a few weeks ago they determined they were not going to join us after all. I was pretty disappointed not to be able to see them, but also, I had had to do some fancy maneuvering to make the original trip work. We had added a week-long loop to our trip through Wales so they could pick up and drop off bikes in Hay, and we will not do that loop without them. The upshot is that I am now in the middle of reworking our trip to figure out how to account for this change in plans. The lemonade however, is that this has given me the opportunity to add some extra off-bike days and to shorten some of our longer days. I was happy to do that because Dave expressed some concern whether longer days are a good idea due to his knee. This has meant cancelling and rebooking about a month of reservations. We now have only two definitive dates to deal with: (1) We are due in London Sept. 3 to see some plays; and (2 We are due in Munich to go home Oct. 21. I am madly pondering alternatives.

Today we had a free day in Craigellachie (After numerous mispronunciations, we've learned it's pronounced "craig-ella'-key"), and after a relaxing morning catching up on the journal and doing some trip planning Dave and I put on our best outfits (really our only outfits) and rode 3 km over to the Macallan Estate for a signature lunch. (Eric and Melinda opted for a day on their own; I think there was some Wimbledon watching on their agenda). Macallan is a whisky Dave has long enjoyed and Macallan built this amazing new distillery outside of Craigellachie. It has a distinct modern vibe, in contrast to all the more traditional Scottish distilleries. It was designed by a California architect, David Carson, and it merges into the hillside in a very subtle way. The entrance was impressive, not to mention we had our second Highland coo sighting.

Bold design elements were present throughout including this dramatic wine display.

The menu was a collaboration of El Cellar Can Roca, a small group of famous upscale Spanish Restaurants in Northern Spain, and Macallan. We had eaten at one of Can Roca’s restaurants last year in Girona, so it was appealing to see how they would manage a Scottish/Catalonia fusion cuisine. We could select either a wine pairing or a whisky/sherry pairing to go with the seven small courses. I chose the wine, and Dave chose the whisky/sherry (not surprisingly). That way he could drink a little of my wine, and I could try his whisky.

Subdued elegance would be a fair description of the restaurant's decor--sophisticated without being fussy.

The serving plates for each course were very interesting.

The meal had a worldwide theme ending with dessert and an homage to Scotland. The topping was a spun sugar which represented Scotland's omnipresent clouds.

We have had a few tasting menu meals in our life, and some are memorable, and some just merge into your brain. This was memorable. The setting was unique, the dining area was stunning, the food was thoughtful, interesting, the numerous courses tiny (how we like it) and the wine and whisky and sherry a wonderful match. Finally, the staff were delightful and friendly and it was a wonderful two and a half hours. Dave was madly making notes on his phone and there will be a new Macallan aperitif on Dave’s menu when we get home.

Dave: I very much enjoyed the whisky and sherry pairing with the meal. I had a sampling of MacCallan's standard expressions including the 12, 15 and 18 year old bottlings. Dessert included a special expression, the MacCallan Rare Cask. When ever the tasting team finds a cask that has special qualities, they will bottle it as a Rare Cask. This one was ultra smooth, so much so that Jill admitted that this would a whisky she'd gladly drink, and if you know Jill, you know she's always harbored a disregard for distilled spirits of any kind, so hers was the ultimate compliment. In addition to being smooth, it had wonderful warm spice notes along with a hint of toffee. It was perfect with the dessert course.

MacCallan has strong ties with Spain's Estèvez Group who owns and runs the Valdespino sherry bodega and they used their sherries twice during the meal. I had expected to see sherry at dessert, but no, they served it with the lobster dish and again with a celeriac course, both to good effect. Jill's wines were made by Peralda who have been making wines since the middle ages and are located near Girona, Spain. She especially enjoyed the Peralda Nomès which is made from Granacha negra.

Today's ride: 6 km (4 miles)
Total: 2,384 km (1,480 miles)

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