1201 km in 3 days

August 17-19, 2024

Actually, there are only two valid methods for getting home after a motorcycle tour. Either spend as much time as possible in the holiday region and then ruthlessly blast through the remaining stretch home, or incorporate enough beautiful places into the return trip so that it feels like a vacation right up to the last kilometers. Whenever possible, I try to go for the second option.

This time, the journey back began in the Bordeaux region with the almost kitschy-beautiful wine village of Saint-Émilion, then over the 14th-century Vieux Pont to Bergerac. My nose wasn’t big enough to stand out there particularly. So, onward through the Perigord to the Vézère Valley, where I first had to look up the word “Abri.” It’s a rock overhang created by erosion, which in this valley was used for extensive housing development in prehistoric times, including by our Cro-Magnon relatives.

I was a bit disappointed to see no saber-toothed squirrels there. Maybe “Ice Age” was not a documentary after all.

The overnight stay in Brive-la-Gaillarde was surprisingly entertaining because the hotel owner himself rides an R nineT, so we had plenty to talk about. The next day, I continued through the Massif Central and the exciting landscape of the Chaîne des Puys, a chain of volcanic mountains in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, to my last overnight stop on this tour in Clermont-Ferrand.

There, the friendly receptionist at the “Le Lion” told me I could park right in front of the door, but that would be unguarded.

Hmmm… when I came to my motorcycle the next morning, I found a very attentive guard with obviously good taste in motorcycles (as the last photo below clearly shows).

31 km in 1 day

August 13-16, 2024

After a few nice days at the beach in Biscarrosse, we were looking forward to a few nice days at the beach in Arcachon and Cap Feret. Besides lots of sand, these places probably have the highest concentration of Citroën Méharis. Beautiful. And there are lots of really good oysters that you can eat right by the sea.

For motorcycle riders, once again there’s particularly good service, like often in France: When I asked if the folks at the hotel had a safe spot for my motorcycle, they just said: “Best to park it right next to the main entrance by the window. Then someone at the reception will have a direct view of it 24/7.” Motorcycle paradise.

312 km in 1 day

August 10-12, 2024

Marcus started his journey back home to Germany very early, while I get to enjoy another day of riding with Diego through the Basque part of the Pyrenees. Which brings us straight to the problem: I really don’t know how to properly list the mountain passes here: Basque, Spanish, French, English…? I’ve rarely had so many options and so little clue. Oh well: Urkiagako lepoa, Izpegiko lepoa, Ezkisaroi lepoa, Otxondo mendatea.

Diego and I share a friendship built on motorcycling; we’ve already done a day tour through the Pyrenees in 2016 and another through the foothills near Munich in 2018. We should really go on a longer trip together sometime.
A particular highlight of this tour was a stop at Pastelería Malkorra for coffee and Txantxigorri, a typical pastry from Navarra with the surprising ingredients of fried pork, lard, bread dough, and sugar.

188 km in 1 day

August 09, 2024

The last day of our tour together. We can’t say that we saved the best for last because the past days have been so sensational. But the semi-desert Bardenas Reales in Navarra is definitely a special highlight. The older ones among us immediately think of locations for Western movies. The younger ones are more likely to shout, “Oh, the Dothraki Sea! Where are the Khalasars?” The motorcyclists are like: “Hehe, rad dust trails!” 😁

But in any case, it’s an incredibly impressive landscape that you wouldn’t necessarily expect in Europe.

Sebastian then started his journey back via the ferry in Barcelona to southern Italy. Marcus and I headed to Pamplona, where after a quick refreshment, we basically had dinner from 4 PM to 10 PM. Relevant magic words:
¡Pintxos y cañas!

295 km in 1 day

August 08, 2024

Why are we riding on bumpy, dusty, uncomfortable trails through the mountains? It’s hard to say. Marcus summed it up nicely along the way. We had barely driven a few meters off-road when he asked over the intercom, “Do you also feel it? It immediately feels like freedom” That’s how it is, somehow, riding motorcycles in general, but it gets stronger with less infrastructure. And there are pleasant surprises like the change to reddish rocks and paths. Sometimes, the surprises even come with a delay, like when you’re back home. Just before the off-road part, we stopped at a viewpoint, which was nice, but not particularly impressive given the consistently beautiful landscape all around. We kept driving.

When I was looking at the map while writing this, I realized we should have been looking in the other direction. Then I might have seen the monument for Pau Donés, the singer of my favorite Spanish band Jarabe de Palo, who passed away in 2021. The sculpture looks out over his village of Montanui, and the viewpoint is now called “Mirador Pau Donés.”
So, I guess I’ll just have to go back…

Our destination was Sos del Rey Cátolico, one of the (officially) most picturesque villages in Spain. And it is, as Marcus’ aerial photo shows. Again, we were allowed to park right in front of the hotel and again the food was sooo delicious. I have to go back there.

180 km in 1 day

August 07, 2024

It was the day of the apocalypse. Or so we thought. Several signs pointed to it. But more on that later. The day began very warm once again. The traffic through Andorra reminded us that quite a number of people actually live in the Pyrenees. And they all seem to want to shop tax-free in Andorra. Interesting: Recently, an eSports convention took place there at the Andorra La Vella Congress Center.

Strange: Everywhere in the mountains, there were signs about esports — even at the mountain bike downhill trails and ski slopes. It took us a while to realize that “esports” in Catalan means “sports” (capitalization matters…). Still, the esports ski slope was great as they had a restaurant at the Coll de la Botella (beautiful road and name). At 2073 m, it was refreshingly cool with our coffees in the shade.

The descent from the Coll de Cabús to the village Alins was part of the outstanding tracks of the ACT Pyrenees and as breathtaking as they promised. We only used a few small sections of the ACT tracks on our tour, combined with our own route ideas, but we definitely have to come back for the full ACT experience.

It was quite amusing, though, that the border between Andorra and Spain marked a change from the impeccably smooth tarmac on the Andorran side to a gravel road in Spain. It seemed like Andorra wanted to make a statement. However, we enjoyed the ride on the gravel road even more. 🤩

“And I looked up and behold, a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death [not visible in the video, perhaps the frame rate was too low], and Hell followed with him [that must be the brown horse in the upper right, didn’t look particularly unfriendly]. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

As the empirical evidence in the video clearly demonstrates, Revelation 6:8 failed to mention that you could avoid being caught in this unfortunate scenario, as the aforementioned pale horse is irritatingly outfitted with a cowbell, providing ample acoustic warning and sufficient opportunity for a strategic retreat to one of the unaffected three-quarters of the earth.

Also in terms of dramaturgy, the introduction of the cowbell did not contribute positively to the pale horse’s intended threatening aura. Its significance remains largely unclear and must be dismissed as an unsuitable means of paraphrasing “for whom the bell tolls.”

Additionally, I’d say that “to kill with […] death” is a rather substandard illustration of the procedures available in the biblic annihilation toolkit.
I would give this specific instance of a revelation no more than two stars on a Google review.

Anyway, we are going to ride to a village called “Sos del Rey Católico” tomorrow. Should be safe there😄

229 km (+821 km ferry) in 2 days

August 05-06, 2024

On the ferry, we continued our strict re-hydration plan. There was a surprisingly decent restaurant on the ferry, by the way. And with our own on-board entertainment program it was actually quite a lot of fun. The very affordable 300g portable projector with Bluetooth audio really was an upgrade to our tour equipment.

When approaching Barcelona, parts of our travel group had difficulties with remembering names again, re-baptizing Gaudí’s famous cathedral to “Hagia Sangría”. Close enough 🤣

We left Barcelona as fast as we could. Not only because of the overtourism. Mainly because 38°C were a good motivator to get going. After about an hour and a half of highway riding we reached higher altitudes and it is surprising how much you feel every single drop of degree in temperature. We were already highly thankful when it was around 34°C and the headwind stopped having a negative effect. In the mountains it was lovely. We rode on roads connecting nowhere with nowhere but with high-quality tarmac in between. Felt like paradise.

774 km in 3 days

August 03-05, 2024

In my sabbatical last year, I initially wanted to do the Pyrenees as well. Didn’t work out. But it was for the better because I would have done that trip alone. Now, Marcus, Sebastian and me were able to enjoy together one of the nicest trips I had done in a very long time, although we only had one week. Basic plan: Via South Tyrol to Genoa, take the ferry to Barcelona, ride the Pyrenees on- and off-road for a few days and then split to spend the rest of the vacation with our families. So off we went with a little bit of rain in Austria and a fortunately quick crossing of the Brenner pass. Left us more time for caffè in Italy.

Penser Joch and Mendel Pass were as wonderful as ever, but the real highlights were the view and the Aperitivo in the wonderful Hotel “Penegal”. The name of the mountain was too complicated for some of us so we always called it “Hotel Panigale”. Much better.

On the next day we had to wait about 5 hours at the ferry in the burning sun. We decided it was important to stay hydrated and opened our own little beer garden in the shade of some trucks. There was a strange smell all over the place. Agreed on it as the smell of AdBlue, as we didn’t like the (more probable) alternative…

427 km in 1 day

July 05, 2024

Finally, the BMW Motorrad Days are back in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The weather on Friday was beautiful, and I took a sunny ride there with my colleague Alex. My favorite customizer was also back in action. In fact, I couldn’t walk five meters without running into a familiar face. So nice.

For the ride home in the evening, I had incredibly lonely roads – after all, there was the quarter-final match of the European Football Championship between Germany and Spain at the same time.

Riding my motorcycle was clearly the better choice, and not just because of the game result 😄

770 km in 2 days

May 01-04, 2024

Although there is no proof that former German national football player Andreas Möller ever said the “Milan or Madrid” thing (and he denied it several times – though who wouldn’t?), I can’t go to Milan without thinking of it. Anyway, Milan is kind of special to me. I first went there in 2016 and, in the following years, mainly for the EICMA. Judging from the surroundings of the exhibition grounds and the fog in November, I had the unjust impression of a not very inviting location.

But after discovering the city center in 2018, with many tips from friends and especially when visiting the restaurants and bars in Isola, I fell in love with that place. And – like in every Italian city – you can make so incredibly many breaks during a touristic walk for a quick caffè that you don’t get tired at all.

So, on the way back from the Transitalia Ways, my wife and I took the opportunity to spend a weekend there, which pretty much felt like a complete holiday.

409 km in 3 days

April 28-30, 2024

Three days of riding on the nicest roads and gravel tracks in Tuscany, Umbria and Marche lay ahead. We were extremely lucky with the weather. Shortly before, it had been continuously very cold and rainy, but now it was clear and stable. Some of the tracks were still a bit muddy. We stuck to the easier routes, while others waded through deeper mud.

The food was indescribably good. Mirco chose a location for each day that particularly reflected the style of the region. I think I really gained weight in that short time, and it wasn’t just because of the especially creamy and very official “MTR Transitalia Ways” tart on the last evening…

746 km in 2 days

April 26-27, 2024

One of the most exciting riding events last year was the Transitalia Marathon. So what could be better than to start this year with the Transitalia Ways, offered by Archie Greene of MTR Tour. Archie is not only a fully certified tour guide, but also one of the marshalls of the Transitalia Marathon (TM), organizing the Transitalia Ways as a kind of “best of” together with the TM mastermind Mirco Urbinati. My first organized tour (not organized by myself, I mean). The first challenge was to get there. The temperatures dropped at the beginning of April and our plan to ride through Austria via Nassfeldpass needed to be canceled due to snow.

Carina, Dominik and me (the dream team from last year’s TM) managed to arrive in Sterzing only half frozen. But Dom’s bike didn’t start the next day due to engine problems (if we knew back then the severity we wouldn’t have tried Tool Time at the hotel parking…). Anyway, what we witnessed then was one the best customer experiences I could imagine. As soon as Archie was informed that we got stuck, he 1) organized a ride for Dom to Rimini, 2) organized a rental F 900 GS and 3) said all the time “well, simply come here, we will always find a way”. MTR Tours: no problems, only solutions.

2427 km in 6 days

September 22-28, 2023

I was so excited! Ulli, a good friend of mine, asked me again and again to once join the Transitalia Marathon. The event name is a bit misleading. No running and no competition. Just very scenic off road rides across Italy from coast to coast on roads and tracks that are partially restricted.

As I finally owned a more or less suitable bike and Ulli organized starting slots again, I was so much looking forward to it. A bit of a stretch to get there, but the atmosphere at registration and technical inspection in itself was already so much rewarding. So many (ca. 400) nerdy people from all over Europe!

The celebration of sending the riders off was quite something. Everyone was called on stage, handed over the official time cards and received final instructions. It was quite rainy during the night and the first day started muddy (not in Rimini, they do have roads there).

For lunch, the organization team built a pop-up catering station right on the historic central place of Mercatello sul Metauro. And it even got better: First the sun came out and then finish and dinner were right in the middle of the also historic central place at Città di Castello. Breathtaking.

At the beginning of day two, I teamed up with Sergio and while we were not the fastest, we achieved far more stops for a caffè than the average participant.

Sergio was also kind enough to help me out of my substandard off road parking space. On the route we met Carina and Dominik and the dream team was complete.

While on day 2, I cleaned my motorcycle rudimentary from thick layers of mud (that do not go well with air cooled engines), I managed to get a far more elegant dust coating on day 3.

We continued the tradition of excessive Espresso intake, leaving us to be some of the last to arrive at our destination. Needed to go to bed early (and more sober than the days before) for an early start.

And an early start it was indeed. But with more than 300 km to to, we needed every minute. Maybe because there was again the occasional coffee stop.

And again. And again. And then I punctured my tire, but in a dedicated team effort we defeated fate. Of course, we were also among the last to arrive 😆

1172 km in 2 days

September 06-07, 2023

Time to head back home again, at least for a while. But I miss my wife, and my motorcycle misses the workshop crew at VTR Motorrad. So: Onto the highway and as quickly as possible heading east. Actually very uneventful, but on highways, you encounter the strangest species.

Somehow, I ended up at a petrol station right in the middle of the Goldwing Fan Club of supposedly Central France. Okay, Goldwing, strange enough. Level up: Goldwing with a trailer. Level up again: Three-wheeled Goldwing. Time to head home…

368 km (+653 km ferry) in 2 days

September 02-05, 2023

My sister has been spending her holidays with her family in Brittany for a few years now. How wonderful that I was able to visit them all! On the ferry, I could take my time, enjoy a last Irish breakfast and watch the harbor entrance, because the motorcycles were parked in a niche on the upper deck and all the cars had to disembark first. After a short trip through Normandy to Brittany, I finally arrived in the beautiful town of Trégastel. And after the long time in England, Scotland, and Ireland, I am really looking forward to French cuisine.

For example, at L’Atelier de l’Huître, where fresh oysters can be enjoyed directly from the producer with a glass of wine. But what I was particularly looking forward to: fresh baguette!

Scenically, the Côte de Granit Rose lives up to its name. The incredibly impressive colours of the rocks cannot be conveyed properly in photos. And besides the round rocks in rosé, there are also beautiful round grey rocks lying around in other places. Sometimes in gardens where they are bigger than the houses next to them.

417 km in 3 days

August 30 – September 02, 2023

For my last days in Ireland, I saved a few particularly traditional pubs: Johnnie Fox’s in Glencullen, founded in 1798 and impressively positioned 278 meters above sea level in the beautiful Wicklow Mountains, formerly the highest pub in Ireland. Probably also the only pub with a grave for one of the regulars and almost certainly the only pub with its own confessional. Seemed to be necessary.

After a short tour through Dublin, I visited The Brazen Head from 1198, pretty much the oldest pub in Ireland (of course not undisputed). On this occasion, I must say: not all modern things are bad. For example, alcohol-free Guinness, which is incredibly good to enjoy during a motorcycle tour. With a non-alcohol-free beer on the surprisingly sunny deck of the ferry to France, my Ireland adventure came to an end.

517 km in 2 days

August 28-29, 2023

In my youth, Ireland was always a place I longed to visit. After finishing school, my first trip as an 18-year-old was there, with a good friend. I was particularly captivated by the Cliffs of Moher, and I had several posters of them hanging in my room. They’ve changed quite a bit since 1995! Well, the cliffs themselves haven’t, but the surroundings have. In the ’90s, you could still walk around freely. In 2005, I found an “impressive” (instructive and funny) warning sign that you could fall off. On my recent visit, I was quite surprised to find that it is now completely safe even for American tourists.

There’s an official parking lot, a visitor center, and the whole shebang. Very domesticated. How wonderful that I had just heard about the Kilkee Cliffs shortly before. A bit further south, slightly smaller, without a visitor center. And with seagulls instead of people.

The next day, I headed to the Ring of Kerry. Also very nice, and very enjoyable on a motorcycle. Definitely drive clockwise, as tour buses and trucks are required to go counterclockwise, and you can enjoy the route much better this way.

319 km in 2 days

August 25-27, 2023

If you thought (male) pirates made for good stories, wait till you hear from Gráinne Ní Mháille (or Grace O’Malley). After her father’s death, she took over the O’Malley dynasty leadership. Irish law, however, did not allow a female descendant to become clan leader. So she took her father’s fleet and began with the highly esteemed occupation of being a pirate. She did not only manage to negotiate two of her sons out of English captivity,

but left the talks with Elizabeth I. with acknowledged clan chief titles for her sons, continued her special line of work and lived to a ripe old age. I visited some of the castles she lived in and saw plenty of other picturesque ruins surrounded by more green stuff. Until I reached the Burren, a karst landscape in County Clare where green is swapped with grey, and it all looks more like a lunar landscape.

By pure luck I found a wonderful cottage (Burren Lakeside Cottage) which is normally completely booked out during summer. Gerry, the owner, told me that his last guests needed to leave earlier than planned. I was more than happy to fill the few gap days until the next booking.

I wouldn’t have needed three bedrooms, but a cottage with lake access and the most adorable and relaxed Jack Russel Terriers I have ever seen was just perfect. The dogs were obviously highly trained to obey Covid physical distance regulations while waiting for my attention 😄

Anyway, one of the most peaceful places I got to spend time in. Would love to come again some day. And they even had washing machine, pure luxury on tour!

As the time of my departure neared, the dogs guarded my motorcycle particularly well in precaution.

225 km in 1 day

August 24, 2023

Cong is a kind of Ireland-Disney-Wonderland, as the tourist authorities managed to conserve it very much like in the 1950s. Back then, the John Ford movie “The Quiet Man” was shot there featuring John Wayne. As a child, I admired him in Western movies. It was much later that I learned what a stupid reactionist the guy was. Quite the opposite of a hero.

A true hero on the other hand was Patrick (or Pádraig) Henry Pearse, an Irish teacher, author, political activist, one of the leaders of the Eastern rising 1916 and for some days the first president of the Republic of Ireland before he was court-martialled and executed. Pearse’s cottage as a school played a huge role in preserving the Irish language and is now a museum.

319 km in 2 days

August 22-23, 2023

Ben Bulben, a large flat-topped rock formation, is said to be the home of the Fianna, a band of warriors from the 3rd century with legendary leader Fionn mac Cumhaill. In this rare case, the anglicized name sounds better to me: Finn McCool. Anyway, wasn’t at home that day.

Continued the tour mainly consisting of green, lonely and ancient. Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery might have been interesting but after having seen plenty of Neolithic tombs on the way there I was somewhat too lazy and prioritized the next pub visit instead.

255 km in 1 day

August 21, 2023

With the Wild Atlantic Way Ireland offers overwhelming 2.500 km of scenic coastline roads along its Western shoreline. I went for a semi-informed partial approach. The lonely landscape and a slightly stormy weather in Co. Donegal made for an impressive experience.

Having reached Ballyshannon, my destination for that day, I found out that my pannier frame gave up. Wasn’t a good idea after all to force too much luggage into the bags every day. The day was saved, once more, by the outstanding performance of zip ties.

427 km (+75 km ferry) in 2 days

August 19-20, 2023

Always wanted to see Northern Ireland. Supposed to be a very beautiful place. Which it is, in some way. Everything green, friendly people as far as I can tell. But not only for somebody like me who is not a huge fan of putting up national flags every two meters, the density of Union Jacks everywere is annoying.

And as soon as you witness the memorials to “volunteers” on either side you can’t really imagine that the Troubles are over. Talked to Canadian tourists a while later and they also felt a burdening tense atmosphere. Decided quickly to find out if the grass is greener in the Republic of Ireland. Somewhat felt like it.

313 km in 1 day

August 16-18, 2023

Almost unspectacular trip South to Woodland Bay near Girvan for some days at the beach before heading to Ireland. Became somewhat spectacular when a giant scone appeared on the horizon. Turned out to be Ailsa Craig, an island also known as Fairy Rock. That’s at least something if I can’t get a giant scone.

Girvan Beach and Woodland Bay offered prime spots to watch the sunset. Decided (not a very difficult decision) to honour a friend’s tradition of riding the motorcycle to the beach having a wee whisky sunset (invented in Wales, but also works adequately on the Western shore of Scotland, empirically validated).

632 km in 2 days

August 14-15, 2023

Very happy to have spent time talking to Dennis, the owner of Shandwick House B & B (highly recommended!). On the one hand because I got to play with his adorable Dalmatians. One the other hand because Dennis convinced me that the famous scenic road North Coast 500 is nice but very crowded especially in the West whereas the inland roads near Shin Forest and Loch Naver are beautiful and empty even in high season. Went there, marvellous.

Luckily I remembered that driving on the left means I should make the trip along the remaining coastal road to Dunnet Head (Scotland’s most Northern mainland location) and John O’Groats in clockwise direction for better views. At the end of a small gravel track I stumbled across a very remarkable pier that could be part of the “Scotland’s most instagrammable locations” collection with rocks and sea and green and everything. Still a hidden gem however, happy me.

638 km in 3 days

August 11-13, 2023

I have been to Stirling several times and the Wallace Monument never fails to fascinate me when it pops up on the horizon. Pretty sure J.R.R. Tolkien had that thing in mind when describing Sauron’s Barad-dûr tower.

Another piece of magic: Small twisty roads through the Scottish Highlands even look lovely when it’s raining.

And in Ellon I found something that looked like magic as there are usually not too many shiny blue two meter tall bunnies in broad daylight.

As I witnessed the phenomenon even before hitting the BrewDog brewery later that afternoon, I was delighted to find out it was part of a charity organisation’s raising awareness to things presumably associated with colourful extra large hare.

Higher-order magic is wielded at BrewDog. Started by 2 people (+1 dog) in 2007 with 1.000 hl beer to more than 1.800 people and a million hl beer in 2023 is massive.

Not a sign of magic but of natural human stupidity was Culloden Battlefield. Hmph.

386 km in 3 days

August 08-10, 2023

Unexpected things… While nice scenery, lakes, more lakes and lakeside lakes were in the realm of the common things, the village New Lanark really was a trip back into that part of the 19th century where knowledge started to arise that human beings could also be treated as such even in a cotton mill. While the improvement in living conditions in the beginning was more in the range from completely and utterly unacceptable to just unacceptable, the visionary mind of Robert Owen gradually established social and welfare programs while keeping the business successful. Quite impressive.

Also very impressive at least from my current point of view are the works of Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow. I still remember my first time in Scotland about 20 years ago and I couldn’t care less at that time… Had other things in mind than architecture and design. An interesting fact about his “House for an Art Lover” is that it was not built before 1989, yet strictly according to original plans. Although deemed to be strongly superior to other contributions in a competition set by a design magazine, he was disqualified for being late with some final stuff. I fully sympathize with Mackintosh here… Luckily, the idea was revived later on.

120 km (+60 km ferry) in 2 days

August 06-07, 2023

If you went to Scotland and only had time to visit one distillery you should go to Springbank in Campbeltown. It is like stepping into another world.

Springbank is an independent, family-owned distillery producing three single malts (Springbank, Longrow, Hazelburn) and the only distillery in Scotland with the whole whisky making process on-site including bottling and reassembling casks.

This is not merely a theoretical opportunity to see more, the Springbank people are strongly committed to show you everything. Sometimes you have to wait with the tour until you can enter an area safely.
Feels much more real😀
Additionally, they have a very low degree of automation. No computers in production and so many manual processing steps that they employ even more people than much larger distilleries.

Malting: Watered barley is spread out for 6-7 days on malting floor to germinate. Resulting malt is then dried in a kiln over a fire in hot air (but <70°C) and various degrees of peat (ideally: a lot).

Mashing: Dried malt goes to the mill and then to the mash tun with hot water (65-95°C). The resulting peated porridge is called “wort”.

Fermentation: Wort is cooled to 20°C and pumped into the washbacks. Yeast is added delivering a “wash” with about 6-8% alcohol.

Destillation: Wash is distilled first in the wash still, separating alcohol from water, yeast and residue. Delivers “low wines” with about 20% alcohol. Low wines go to the spirit still, where the first (foreshot) and final runnings (feints) are channeled off for reuse while the heart of the run with about 68% alcohol are collected in the spirit receiver.

Filling the casks: Spirit is reduced to maturing strength 63% alcohol before being filled in to the casks.

And then: Waiting…