10 BEST CRUISING DESTINATIONS PUBS, BREWERIES & DISTILLERIES
For many, stepping ashore for a pint or a glass of wine is the ideal end to a great day’s sailing; the chance to share the highlights of your passage, chew over what you could have done better or just enjoy the view. Hostelries have long been part of sailing tradition, from the quayside pub, which welcomes weatherbeaten sailors to prop up the bar in their flotsam covered establishments, to the quaint, rural, riverside haunts, with their beer gardens offering unrivalled views over the anchorage.
There’s a great wealth of local real ales, wines and spirits to discover in ports and anchorages all around our coast. From the peaty single malts of Islay or the malty sweetness and hoppy bitterness of Irish Guinness to the delicate botanicals of Portsmouth gin and the crisp real ales of Purbeck, there are plenty of ways to celebrate another memory-making sail.
1 Islay, Inner Hebrides
RECOMMENDED BY Graham Snook
The west Scottish island of Islay is currently home to nine open distilleries (and there are plans to reopen Port Ellen and one more). While it’s possible to moor at Port Ellen Marina, there are two moorings provided by Lagavulin
Distillery in the sheltered Lagavulin Bay. This puts you a stone’s throw from Lagavulin Distillery and a short walk from both Ardbeg to the east and Laphroaig to the west. All three distilleries offer tastings and tours. But as you’re closest to Lagavulin it makes sense to start there, tours start at £20; tastings start at £25 (). I can personally recommend the £35 Warehouse Demonstration, by the infinitely knowledgeable Iain MacArthur; after a distillery tour, you will be led into Lagvulin’s warehouse to sample the contents
