4-day Islay Platinum Whisky Tour – Whisky Included! With Free Pickup!

I first contacted Euan sometime in January of 2024 for a Scotch experience to be held in September with some of my closest friends. I found Whiskey Wheels during in a search and TripAdvisor but I chose to contact Euan directly. While the trip was not crystallized until later in April, Euan was very helpful in providing his suggestions and options for our tour. The challenge was accommodating the needs of 10 people in a span of 4-5 days as well as ensuring that we can cover distilleries and other sights. Euan was instrumental in providing regions to go to during our trip taking into consideration the length of time and number of people. Euan and I would exchange emails but also discussed matters over the phone. Once we settled on the locations that we were going to visit, Euan was to arrange all of the accommodations and travels between destinations. During the time of the initial booking and actual travel dates, there were some changes to the number of people and Euan was able to help. Euan also arranged for food locations. Many of the locations he chose for food were good, with the exception of 2, and we let Euan know after the trip. Obviously he won't have known the service offered unless he receives our feedback and services can vary. Our trip was customized and not a set trip, so Euan had to find places in each location. While we would have loved to visit each distillery and do a tour, I am glad that Euan suggested not to do so as it would have been too much. Euan arranged for a mix of tours that included a tasting and history, and other visits were just visiting where we chose to drink. Many of the places were to also capture the beauty of Scotland. His insights were helpful in the planning. There was one hiccup at one of the locations for accommodation, but Euan was able to resolve it in less than an hour. The rest of the trip was smooth. The drivers that he arranged were good and if you have a choice, ask for Collin to be a driver wherever he is able to. I do note that some people have complained that Euan does not get back. While it may appear that Euan does not get back, he does. He would sometimes get back late but he does correspond and follows through. My only issue was that we wanted the itinerary early on so we can also see what other things we can do on our trip (eg golf, restaurants) etc and where we were staying. I would book another trip with Euan if I were to go back to Scotland (probably in another few years) to visit the other distilleries. He definitely has an extensive knowledge of the distilleries and if you are looking for a customized tour and not a "out of the box", talk to Euan. Euan - thanks for the good memories. Looking forward to another trip one day in the future.

Definitely book with rabbies. These people are not responsive and you have no clue what the itinerary is ahead of time. You can't schedule your own tours either

Excellent tour and high value for money. Very close to full score, details could have been communicated more in advance and a bit awkward communication through Viator are the only negative elements. Warehouse tour with Ian at Lagavulin was the best

Employed excellent drivers. Virtually impossible to contact via phone or internet. Quite a few last-minute changes in details but always worked out in the end. Inflexible about Islay distillery tour requests. Nonetheless, made good selections even though some were not what was requested Made excellent lunch choices. Hotel on Islay was magnificent but remote. 40 sterling for taxi to town for dinner. Hotel had absolutely spectacular breakfast with the best homemade croissants I have EVER had. But did not serve dinner so had to go to Bowmore village, 40 sterling taxi ride away. Hotel in Inverness on a spectacular lake. But so remote from town it was impossible to go there for dinner. No reliable taxi service. Tiny room but friendly proprietress.

We reserved a tour with Whiskey Wheels in May 2022, for the following September. We were one couple and four single adults, and we requested and paid for one double room and four single rooms. We were told that we'd be in the same inn or hotel. (I am one of the couple.) There was no communication from WW, despite several attempts to contact them, and we were wondering if they'd taken the money and ran. But then a week before the tour, we received an email. "Sorry, almost everything on Islay is booked." Clearly, even though we booked and paid four months ahead of time, WW waited until a week ahead of time to try to book our lodging. So, we were told, we'd be in three separate lodging establishments, but they were within walking distance of each other. Further, instead of 4 single rooms, all four of the non-couples would have to share two rooms (including one in a hostel, in a room without a bathroom, barely larger than the two twin beds in held). For the 5:45am pickup on Day 1 of the tour (from Edinburgh), we were staying at two different hotels. Per communications with WW the day before, they were supposed to pick up the one person at a different hotel first, and then pick up the other five of us at the other hotel. When the driver arrived, we were, "Where's Bob?" The driver had not been told about the second hotel; in fact, he hadn't be told that he was driving us at all, until 10:30pm the evening before. So we then rushed to pick up Bob, given that we had a fixed time to get to the ferry on the other side of Scotland. The ride across Scotland was in a small van that barely had room for the 6 of us and our luggage. Three people had to sit on those small fold-down seats like you see in London cabs ... fine for a quick ride from Paddington Station to Piccadilly Circus, not so nice for a three-hour trip on windy, bumpy roads. Then, we arrived on Islay, just to received another email from WW that the couple's room booking had been somehow screwed up, and we were instead going to be in a nicer hotel ... but which was a half-hour drive away from where the others were staying (in Port Charlotte). This massively screwed with all our dinner and breakfast plans for all our days on the island. Then -- we arrived at the new hotel, to find that there was no booking. It turned out that WW had booked us at this hotel for the wrong dates. Another hour wasted while that all got straightened out. (Our first day on the island was event-less ... all the distilleries were closed because of the Queen's funeral. But of course we don't blame WW for that.) Instead of having any known itinerary, each day we'd get an email from WW with a rough schedule of what we'd be doing the next day. So very hard to plan anything in advance. When we visiting the Bunnahabhain distillery, we mentioned to the (excellent) guide there that the tour we were part of was very disorganized. She replied, "Would it happen to be Whiskeywheels?" Clearly, our experience with them is the norm, not the exception. Then we left the island for a night in Oban. We were told we had a 10:15 tasting at the Oban Distillery, and then the driver would pick us up at 11:00 to go to our final tasting at Deanston, a Highland distillery. We got to Oban to learn that, while the Oban shop opened at 10:15, the tasting room didn't open until 11:00. The only reason I'm giving WW a "2" instead of a "1" is that they obviously realized that they messed up big-time, and upgraded a couple of our tastings from a basic to a premium experience. We had a great time on Islay, despite WW's incompetence, because the island is so beautiful, the people are so friendly and welcoming, and their distilleries turn out such fantastic scotch. Also, because our driver for all three days on the island, Andrew from Bruichladdich Taxi, was so terrific. Do go to Islay, but don't go using WW. Instead, book your own travel to the island and lodging on the island. And then hire Andrew to drive you around!