Brewdog and Glen Garioch

On tuesday we saw an ad on paper about a trip to local brewery and whiskey distillery. So, we desided to go and see if we could join them with Jari, another finish Erasmus student.
There wasn't any tickets left but fortunately there was just enough spare seats and we were able to join the tour. We met two local finnish students Miika and Ilmari and also two Erasmus students from Rovaniemi. Many people on the bus were international and actually there is lots of people from all around Europe in the University of Aberdeen.

So first we went to the Brewdog brewery on Fraserburgh. It's a small brewery and they're quite young since they've started at 2007. One of the workers showed us the equipment that they have and explained how the brewing works.

On our way to brewery.

Bitch please!

One of the workers telling us how things are done.

Grain waste.

Fermentation

Tasting.

And then while we were almost leaving the actual introducer arrived. She took us to the storage room where told the history of the label and about their products. We got to taste few of their beers, Punk, 77, Trashy Blonde, Hardcore, Zeitgeist and Tokyo*. My favorite was Zeitgeist. Brewdog has made the strongest beer in the world "The End of History" which is 55%.

Girl telling us about the beers & Zeitgeist logo in front.

Whole crew. 

Pile of brewdog.

Tactical Nuclear Penquin 32% alc.

A bottle of Penquin.

After tasting we took the bus to the Glen Garioch distillery on Oldmeldrum. It's one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland. We had a nice tour and were told the history of the distillery and the whole process of making the whiskey.

Entering the visitor centre.

Empty barrels in the room where the grains were spread
on the floor to start the process of turning starch to glucose

Tour guide telling how they used to dry the grains
with peat before.

Heater.

Mash tun.

Mash.

Wash backs.

Spirit stills.

Spirit falls.

Scottish single malt whiskey

After the tour we went back to the visitor center and got to taste some fine scottish single malt whiskey. And everybody was happy!

Tasting.

Glen Garioch from 1991.

First day in Aberdeen.

So, yesterday was the day of traveling. I left Jyväskylä at 11am and had to say goodbye to my loving family for the next two months.

My lovely family.

I got to the Helsinki-Vantaa airport around hour and half before the departure and had enough time for a quick lunch at the cafe. Then there was 3 hours flight to London and after that another one hour flight to Aberdeen. At the airport Christophe and Christelle were giving me a nice welcome and I spent the first night at their place. I was pretty exhausted so there wasn't trouble of getting sleep.

Christophe.

View to Aberdeen from C&C's guest room.

C&C's neighborhood

For the first day Christophe and Christelle took me to the Sands of Forvie which is about 20km north from Aberdeen. There was nice sand dunes and a huge beach and really nice landscapes. The weather was nice although it wasn't too warm and wind didn't really help, but it was great. We had a nice walk around the beach and grabbed a lunch.

Christelle & Christophe

View from the hills.

View to Newburgh

Christophe watching birds.

Path to dunes

Another nice grassy view

Beach

Sand dune.

Piece of wood.

Lunch.

Small sand dunes.

Another dune.

Footsteps to the beach.

The beach

We had a dinner at C&C's and then they took me to my flat in Hillhead Student Village. I have a small room with bed, table and closet in a six room flat. We have a shared kitchen, toilets and bathroom. There's four scottish guys and one from germany and they all seem like really nice fellas' so I think I'll be okay.

Tomorrow I should find my way to the University and try to finish my registration and go and buy me a pillow and blanket that weren't included with the bed!

Today was a great start for the adventure and hopefully it'll be as fun later on....