About Craigellachie

March 2004 - Hotel of the Year

Sponsored by Hunters and Frankau

Reproduced from WHISKY Magazine Issue 38, Friday 05 March 2004

"Undisputed winner in this category, with only Ardbeg's victory more emphatic. It's no surprise really; situated in the heart of Speyside, the hotel under the stewardship of Duncan Elphick has become an unofficial whisky capital of the region.

It is the sort of warm and welcoming hotel that fully lives up to the ideal created by visiting tourists. It's food is always excellent, the wines impressive. But it's the whisky bar that really stands out. Even the most experienced connoisseurs can't help to be impressed by the walls lined with bottle after bottle of tempting delights.

Duncan has done his own bottlings in recent years, most recently a Glenlivet. As you'd expect, it was excellent."

The competition in this category was literally world-wide, and extremely stiff as the shortlisted finalists (in alphabetical order) were:-

The Athenaeum Hotel ~ London, England
Craigellachie Hotel of Speyside ~ Craigellachie, Scotland
Drumchork Lodge ~ Wester Ross, Scotland
Gleneagles Hotel ~ Auchterarder, Scotland
Seelbach Hilton ~ Louisville, Kentucky