After an amazing time in bustling Edinburgh, it's time to venture north to our final Speyside destination, Dufftown. Home to many distilleries, our journey will end here as we tour Glenfiddich and it's younger brother, The Balvenie distilleries and prepare for our main competition. A few hours outside of Edinburgh, Dufftown is a quaint Scottish village the sits among some beautiful Highland scenery, home to small farmlands and towns.

As we pull into the Craigellachie Hotel to relax for a wee bit before heading over to the distilleries, we stop into the small watering hole, The Quaich Bar located on the bottom floor. The hotel is a beautiful late 19th century building that you'd expect to have on an episode of Ghost Hunters. You can picture locals wetting their whistles in the pub arguing over who makes the best whisky in all of Scotland. One thing we learned, never call Scotch, Scotch when in Scotland, poor form.

With the back bar full of choices, some 700 different whiskies to choose from, I opt for another Monkey Shoulder cocktail, that is somewhat of a mix between a Rusty Nail and Blue Blazer. Laced with Drambuie and a bit of Spanish Bitters, the real show is lighting the whisky and pouring back and forth. Always fun to have a bit of pyrotechnics when mixing your cocktails.

After a few drinks, we head back on the bus and arrive at the beautiful Glenfiddich Distillery. The cocktail nerd in me cheers with blissful glee as we approach this gorgeous 129 year old landmark. It's really quite something to see just how much love, knowledge and hard work goes into making some of the finest whisky in the world. And these guys house some 50,000 barrels while they age for decades under carefully monitored conditions.

Our humble tour guide who's been with Glenfiddich for over 50 years.

Josh and I posing behind some massive copper stills at The Balvenie.

Scottish Peat

Mr. Abrahamson testing some very intensely concentrated yeasty sugar-water. Hope there's a bathroom near...

Both local, and outward sourced barley are malted in-house (They also lightly peat their malt in the Balvenie Distillery) and then ground fine and mixed with spring water from the Robbie Du, exclusively owned by the Grant Family. From there they begin to create the "mash" where the malted barley is now being coaxed to begin converting into fermentable sugars, lovingly known as the "wort". This wort is then transferred to large fermentation vats where their special yeast blend is added and heated to essentially make a beer. After a few days, the beer reaches its optimal ABV of 9% where they will then distill and eventually add to charred American oak and some Spanish Oloroso barrels that are maintained and repaired on premise and age for a specific time, anywhere upwards of 60 years or so.

The tour was everything you would hope to learn and see. The sheer scale of production is something to be in awe of. Over 50,000 barrels are aging on premise. There's a reason why it's the #1 Scotch in the world, and the fact that it's an amazing dram says something about how much pride and care each individual takes in their finish product. From the farmers to the coppers and distillers, each cask is carefully crafted to perfection. And believe me, I'm not just saying this because they got me here, it's an experience, not just a whisky.

Liquid gold aging in Warehouse 24. Shh...not supposed to have pictures!

Glenfiddich is on of the few distilleries that have their own cooperage on premise. That's a lot of whisky!

5 hours later, we return back to the main Glenfiddich visitors center where we grab a bite and get to sit down and enjoy some of the amazing whisky we've been learning about all day. We're treated to some real gems, including a Glenfiddich 19 Year Age of Discovery Madeira Finished whisky, a 26 Year Glenfiddich not available in the states, also a few drams of a coveted 50 year straight from the barrel, along with The Balvenie 14 Year Caribbean Cask, Glenfiddich 15 Year Solera (my personal go-to favorite), The Balvenie 17 Year Double Wood and 21 Year Port Wood. I love this trip.

After a long day our brains are swollen from data overload, and it's time to head back to the hotel for dinner and a nightcap. Not too much though, as tomorrow we get serious and prepare our notes for the final competition. It's been great meeting new friends and enjoying the experience together, but come tomorrow, only one team can be crown the winner.