Clydeside

Location and contact details

Location" Location: 100 Stobcross Road, Glasgow G3 8QQ
Visitor Visit Type: Vistor Centre
Co-ordinates" Co-ordinates: 55.862240, -4.296832
Telephone" Telephone: +44 (0) 141 212 1401
Web" Web: http://www.theclydeside.com/tours
Twitter" Twitter: Clydeside Distillery (@clydesidewhisky)

Facts and figures

LocationGlasgow

Opening Hours

Open daily except Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and 2nd January.

SEPTEMBER – JUNE
First tour: 10.00am
Last tour: 4.00pm

JULY AND AUGUST
First tour: 10.00am
Last tour: 4.30pm

FREQUENCY
Every hour on the hour Monday to Friday, every 30 minutes Saturday and Sunday

DURATION
80 minutes

GROUP SIZE
up to 20 people

PRICE
Adult: £15 per person

Concessions (60+ and students): £13.00

Children (8-17): £5

Infants (0-8): FREE

Tours

Tour Around Clydeside

£15

Our Dockside Story is the first, self-guided part of the tour. Wander around and discover fascinating tales about the birth of the whisky industry and Glasgow’s history, featuring live footage and animation bringing history to life.
Next, our expert guide who will show you around Clydeside Distillery itself. Meet our lively craftsmen as they handcraft pure new make spirit using traditional methods and time-honoured skills. Enjoy the spectacular view over the Clyde from our gleaming contemporary Still House.
Finally, the moment you’ve been waiting for… savour Three Wee Drams from across Scotland in our Tasting Room with the help of your expert guide. At the end of your tour, you can purchase your favourite to take home.

Review: Tour Around Clydeside (12:00 on 10/08/2019)

Price: £15

Clydeside distillery is easy to find, look for the clock tour as you come down the main road( this is the distillery) and has their own car park with disabled spaces just outside the distillery.

We did the 1200 tour on a Saturday; the tour had 18 people on it.

The tour starts with a video presentation in a small room with bench seating for 6. The video gives a little history of the building and docks area where the distyillery is located. The video is presented as if dockworkers are talking to you; the video succeeds in being informative without being childish or cringeworthy.

After the short video ends you get 15 minutes to walk through an area with wall displays on the history of whisky in Glasgow to read. This was, with 18 people on the tour, somewhat congested as the displays are to be read in a chronological order.

The tour then takes you through the millroom, mash room and then into the stillhouse. The tour is informative and well laid out and you get to hear all of the relevant details about the process.

However, again the 18 people was too many; not everyone could fit into the mill room when the milling process was discussed. When we moved into the room with the mash tun and wash backs, the 18 people meant many people were too far back to hear clearly, made worse as the people between us and the guide were at times talking amoung themselves. In the still house, there was only a small area where you could stand and were having to stand very closely together.

At the end of the tour we were taken to the tasting room which is located on a platform above the distillery cafe. This meant there was a lot of background noise (talking plates and cups clinking and clattering and for a while a screaming child).

The tasting wasn;t very well organised; there was not sufficient places laid out for the people on the tour.

At the end of the tour you get to sample three whiskies; a lowland, highland and Islay whisky. However, there is only one glass with the tour guide going round each time dispensing whisky to all of the 18 guests.

When doing the first tasting the guide was trying to explain the tasting process as well as sorting out extra glasses for the people who didn't have one and also sorting out containers for the drivers.

This could have been smoother if there were three glasses laid out and already filled for all of the guests before the tasting started; this is the approach most other distilleries take.

Overall, the tour is very good in terms of content and pacing, but is let down by the organisation and number of people on the tour. Limiting the attendees to 12 would have meant the organisation around the tasting would be easier, but the smaller group would mean all visitors would fit into the spaces and be able to hear the tour guide.

[nearby type="distillery"]Information correct as of 04/01/2020

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