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BEN NEVIS DISTILLERY
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Johnny
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 12:35 pm    Post subject: Re: Ben nevis Distillery Reply with quote

whiskyjac wrote:
At the risk of upsetting the applecarts of the cognoscenti, i dont see what the problem is at Ben Nevis. Surely turning up unannounced expecting a special tour ( it would have to be since their advertising says clearly - last tour 1 hour before closing) is rude if nothing else ! As to the appearance - whats the old saying about judging books by the cover? most of the distilleries I know of bend over backwards to be accomodating so comments like these will do little or nothing to encourage them to make the enthusiastic amateur even more welcome.


You are right whiskyjac but they did say in some of the advertisng call and we can be accomodating or some such blurb, and they just weren't, so it was just blurb!! The distillery manager Ross is very good as I said he sent me loads of stuff in the past and I was very enthusiastic in a letter published in the whisky magazine. It seems to be the tour that is the let down rather than their PR.
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talisker25
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:04 pm    Post subject: Re: Ben nevis Distillery Reply with quote

Johnny wrote:
whiskyjac wrote:
At the risk of upsetting the applecarts of the cognoscenti, i dont see what the problem is at Ben Nevis. Surely turning up unannounced expecting a special tour ( it would have to be since their advertising says clearly - last tour 1 hour before closing) is rude if nothing else ! As to the appearance - whats the old saying about judging books by the cover? most of the distilleries I know of bend over backwards to be accomodating so comments like these will do little or nothing to encourage them to make the enthusiastic amateur even more welcome.


You are right whiskyjac but they did say in some of the advertisng call and we can be accomodating or some such blurb, and they just weren't, so it was just blurb!! The distillery manager Ross is very good as I said he sent me loads of stuff in the past and I was very enthusiastic in a letter published in the whisky magazine. It seems to be the tour that is the let down rather than their PR.


very true, the PR is great, i received a bottle of whisky within a week of complaning about a 'shabby tour'. i wonder how much the budget it to deal with complaints Question
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Johnny
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:19 am    Post subject: Re: Ben nevis Distillery Reply with quote

whiskyjac wrote:
At the risk of upsetting the applecarts of the cognoscenti, i dont see what the problem is at Ben Nevis. Surely turning up unannounced expecting a special tour ( it would have to be since their advertising says clearly - last tour 1 hour before closing) is rude if nothing else ! As to the appearance - whats the old saying about judging books by the cover? most of the distilleries I know of bend over backwards to be accomodating so comments like these will do little or nothing to encourage them to make the enthusiastic amateur even more welcome.


I love to visit all the distilleries that I can. Some will be closed, some will have works going on, some will be bad, some will be good. The Blair Athol tour was a waste of 15 mins, the shortest tour I've ever been on and they kept talking of Bells continuously!! Ben Nevis produces a whisky that is one of my favourites, and I hope to hear good reviews of this distillery tour one day and I wish them all the best, but this site is here so that people can make their views known so others have an unbiased view of what a whisky tastes like or how interesting a tour is. No-one on the site wants a tour to be bad, after the amount of travelling most of us do to get get to any distillery we want it to be a very good.

If one person says a tour is bad, it's one opinion, but depending on other posts made by that person, you can see whether you would agree or disagree with that persons standpoint, after a couple of not so good reviews by different people you start to suspect that others may come away with the same picture of a distillery. Everyone that's visited Tullibardine so far has been very impressed with the distillery, the tour, the tour guides, the price of the tour, the whisky (the most important thing!! Laughing ) and the overall feeling they get of the surroundings and friendliness of the people.

We hope people keep visiting Ben Nevis and no-one would doubt the contrary as whisky mad fools we are, we want to visit them all, BUT don't rely on return visits if the first impression is bad. I'm sure a couple of good reviews and everyone here would be glad to visit Ben Nevis again, and Fort William is a lovely place to visit. :D
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whiskyjac
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 10:23 am    Post subject: ben nevis distillery Reply with quote

I certainly agree with the core element of what you are saying but surely a distillery tour cannot be reviewed or indeed judged by someone who has not done the tour for himself! To reiterate and consolidate what was said earlier why turn up at 0730hrs for "sneak shots" the implication of the duplicity is the visitor was sent packing and not allowed to take any pix! Due to the scenic location of this distillery this would stretch the imagination.
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talisker25
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:10 am    Post subject: Re: ben nevis distillery Reply with quote

whiskyjac wrote:
I certainly agree with the core element of what you are saying but surely a distillery tour cannot be reviewed or indeed judged by someone who has not done the tour for himself! To reiterate and consolidate what was said earlier why turn up at 0730hrs for "sneak shots" the implication of the duplicity is the visitor was sent packing and not allowed to take any pix! Due to the scenic location of this distillery this would stretch the imagination.

i was one of the people johnny was talking about when he says some people put reports of a bad tour on the forum, that will not stop me going to the distillery because i have also contacted them as i now know many more have to complain, i am sure that things will improve and if i go again and they have, it will be reported here, i have also been to tullibardide as has johnny and it copuld not be faulted. i am not here and i am sure others are not here just to state the negative, if yuou look at some of the distillery reviews you will see much praise where it is due but we have to be objective Exclamation
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whiskyjac
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Once again i agree wholeheartedly with you , Talisker, one has to be objective- exactly the point i am trying to make .
How can a bad review be given for a tour not taken ?The reviewer says quite clearly he arrived 10 mins before closing (advertising "blurb" which he says he read states clearly [u]last tour one hour before closing [/u]. So how could the tour be judged.? If a critic or reviewer has to maintain or have any sense of crediblity he will have to produce unbiased , accurate and above all else objective reviews.
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Johnny
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 5:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

whiskyjac wrote:
Once again i agree wholeheartedly with you , Talisker, one has to be objective- exactly the point i am trying to make .
How can a bad review be given for a tour not taken ?The reviewer says quite clearly he arrived 10 mins before closing (advertising "blurb" which he says he read states clearly [u]last tour one hour before closing [/u]. So how could the tour be judged.? If a critic or reviewer has to maintain or have any sense of crediblity he will have to produce unbiased , accurate and above all else objective reviews.


I'm not criticising the tour as you said I never did it. I arrived for a tour that got into Ben Nevis late and as said earlier they say give them a ring and they maybe able to arrange a visit even out of opening hours, remember this is a couple of years ago, i've no idea what they say now, but most allow you to ring as we did with Blair Athol and they kept a place open for us to do the tour. I rang Ben Nevis and they said they couldn't sstay open even though i was in Fort William but about ten mins taxi ride away or less. I said I wouldn't be there the next day as i had to leave early and they said they couldn't help. As a whisky lover and wanting to visit the distillery i hired a taxi early the next morning at around £10 or so return journrey to visit. It wasn't a covert operation, i just wanted to see the distillery as I like the whisky. No-one stopped me, took some great pictures, some of the distillery men were there and pretty amused to see someone taking photos early in the morning Laughing I didn't expect them to be open, it would of been nice to have just said someone maybe around if you just want a nosey as Blair Athol said if we had been any later, the one good point of Blair Athol is they were really helpful at stalling the tour and letting us join late.

The reviews of the tour being bad or indifferent i not mine they are others so please don't judge the tour on anything I said unless anyone wants guidance on the taxi ranks at 7.30 in the morning Laughing All I was commenting on to a fellow forum member is my experience of visiting and as you rightly say i never went on the tour but hopefully no-where did I say i had. Again we want all distilleries to be great attractions for the whisky trade to do well, Scottish tourist industry and most importantly our holidays Laughing but we have to be able to speak freely of what happened to us when visiting places or we are just part of the PR for distilleries, shops etc.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Johnny wrote:
Their 10 year old whisky is lovely but they wouldn't stay open to let me visit or make any concession to the fact i couldn't stay to see it the next day. I ended up paying for a taxi early in the morning and getting some sneak shots at 7.30am. I was sent a bottle of whisky years ago by the distillery manager for a letter I wrote in the Whisky Magazine that won the glasses, he said I'd need something to go in the glasses! The stuff they used to send was wonderful but actually at the distillery itself it lets itself down. Sad


The above post I think is the most scorn i poured over the distillery and as you can see I was still very gracious to the PR team and to Colin Ross (hope that's the managers name), plus above I only said visit not do a tour, 5 mins will do us distillery baggers Laughing The let down wasn't the tour or lack of it in my case but the distillery on most pictures seems nestled away in idillic countryside but it was a bit more of a suburb distillery but so was Tullibardine if not more so and they were absolutely lovely in all respects. I don't expect any favouritism but good PR relations is usually earned by going sometimes that little bit further and when I was sent the whisky that was good PR and a very lovely gesture that I much appreciated, especially as it's one of my favourite whiskies. :D
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talisker25
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Johnny wrote:
Johnny wrote:
Their 10 year old whisky is lovely but they wouldn't stay open to let me visit or make any concession to the fact i couldn't stay to see it the next day. I ended up paying for a taxi early in the morning and getting some sneak shots at 7.30am. I was sent a bottle of whisky years ago by the distillery manager for a letter I wrote in the Whisky Magazine that won the glasses, he said I'd need something to go in the glasses! The stuff they used to send was wonderful but actually at the distillery itself it lets itself down. Sad


The above post I think is the most scorn i poured over the distillery and as you can see I was still very gracious to the PR team and to Colin Ross (hope that's the managers name), plus above I only said visit not do a tour, 5 mins will do us distillery baggers Laughing The let down wasn't the tour or lack of it in my case but the distillery on most pictures seems nestled away in idillic countryside but it was a bit more of a suburb distillery but so was Tullibardine if not more so and they were absolutely lovely in all respects. I don't expect any favouritism but good PR relations is usually earned by going sometimes that little bit further and when I was sent the whisky that was good PR and a very lovely gesture that I much appreciated, especially as it's one of my favourite whiskies. :D


i think really that this conversation could go on for ever if we let it, i agree that good PR is paramount at all times, it is a distillery out of the way unless you are staying around fort william and if someone has travelled and asked for just a few minuets to have a look, that when good PR works, when i complained (and yes colin ross is the manager) he could not have been more apologetic ane helpfull but a distillery visit is only as good as the member of staff that is on hand at the time and if they can't be bothered well im sorry, thats how i would have to view the distillery at that time as one that cant be bothered, i think that ben nevis have some serious work to do on PR but with a manager that obviously cares, im sure that given time things will be put right, and as a matter of interest i have been at edradour distillery after closing time and i was not asked to leave or put under pressure to leave even though only 2 or 3 people were left in the shop.......good PR Question i think so
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 7:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

talisker25 wrote:
Johnny wrote:
Johnny wrote:
Their 10 year old whisky is lovely but they wouldn't stay open to let me visit or make any concession to the fact i couldn't stay to see it the next day. I ended up paying for a taxi early in the morning and getting some sneak shots at 7.30am. I was sent a bottle of whisky years ago by the distillery manager for a letter I wrote in the Whisky Magazine that won the glasses, he said I'd need something to go in the glasses! The stuff they used to send was wonderful but actually at the distillery itself it lets itself down. Sad


The above post I think is the most scorn i poured over the distillery and as you can see I was still very gracious to the PR team and to Colin Ross (hope that's the managers name), plus above I only said visit not do a tour, 5 mins will do us distillery baggers Laughing The let down wasn't the tour or lack of it in my case but the distillery on most pictures seems nestled away in idillic countryside but it was a bit more of a suburb distillery but so was Tullibardine if not more so and they were absolutely lovely in all respects. I don't expect any favouritism but good PR relations is usually earned by going sometimes that little bit further and when I was sent the whisky that was good PR and a very lovely gesture that I much appreciated, especially as it's one of my favourite whiskies. :D


i think really that this conversation could go on for ever if we let it, i agree that good PR is paramount at all times, it is a distillery out of the way unless you are staying around fort william and if someone has travelled and asked for just a few minuets to have a look, that when good PR works, when i complained (and yes colin ross is the manager) he could not have been more apologetic ane helpfull but a distillery visit is only as good as the member of staff that is on hand at the time and if they can't be bothered well im sorry, thats how i would have to view the distillery at that time as one that cant be bothered, i think that ben nevis have some serious work to do on PR but with a manager that obviously cares, im sure that given time things will be put right, and as a matter of interest i have been at edradour distillery after closing time and i was not asked to leave or put under pressure to leave even though only 2 or 3 people were left in the shop.......good PR Question i think so


I think I was the other person who was let down by the distillery but again you can only judge it on the day you visited and on who took the tour. Johnny was there, he rang them and so they knew he was keen as only a whisky nut would bother even trying at that time Laughing he even paid for a taxi in the early hours so he could say he'd been there!! Shocked I don't see how he can be blamed for giving any sort of bad press to the place it's Talisker and I that were the ones who paid to get in and were disappointed.

I think as Talisker the post has gone in circles and I hope we are allowed on the forum to post without feeling that we need to be worried about liable Laughing I only said it was a drab experience and as Johnny that the pictures of the distillery and the actual view you first get are not the same, very much like Eilean Donan Castle which turns out to be beside a dual carriageway!!

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