Whisky Journeys brings to its fellow travelers a unique insight into the origins and character of single malt Scotch whisky and, more generally, the whiskies of Scotland and Ireland through the respective annals of Alfred Barnard and Philip Morrice , who undertook -- 100 years apart -- memorable journeys around the whisky distilleries of the two countries.  You can download the updated chapters for each individual distillery of interest to you, or the complete “ book” of a particular journey, beginning with Journey I, which covers the 19 past and present distilleries in the Glasgow area. Both authors were accompanied by artists when they undertook their journeys and their illustrations of the distilleries come as part of each download, although not all of the Barnard distillery profiles were, in fact, illustrated. And this is indicated on the order page.

Linked to each of these downloads is a collection of all - or most - of the available whiskies from that distillery (where the distillery is still operational or has been until recently) direct from the supplier.  We give you the greatest possible selection including some very distinguished expressions of single malt Scotch whiskies and also some whiskies that may not be available anywhere else.

Through our Whisky Library we introduce you to the extensive literature of whisky, including books that are linked to specific whisky producing regions or individual malt whisky distilleries and companies. On reading the reviews, make your selection so as to create your own whisky library.

Thus, uniquely, Whisky Journeys enables the single malt whisky aficionado to have at his or her fingertips the most comprehensive collection of knowledge about this great and intriguing subject, through a combination of the up-dated downloads from the Barnard and Morrice books, the single malt whisky selections from the individual distilleries and the library collection of whisky literature.

The fact that Whisky Journeys is the concept of one of the two original authors, Philip Morrice (Barnard died in 1918 aged 81), and is owned and managed by him ensures the integrity of the operation and maximum satisfaction to those whose thirst for whisky knowledge - and particularly with regard to the single malt Scotch whiskies - knows no bounds.

Barnard and Morrice did their respective journeys one hundred years apart. By and large they used different modes of transport and, with a few exceptions, stayed at different addresses whilst following almost identical itineraries. Both men wrote other books on Scotch whisky and both wrote extensively in other fields – Barnard on brewing and gardens and Morrice on travel and wine.

There is not much else that they had in common, which is not surprising, given the length of time between the two undertakings. Barnard was born in London and seems to have spent most of his life there or thereabouts. Morrice was born in Aberdeen and although he has lived in the London area at different times for relatively short periods, most of his adult life has been spent travelling the world and living in nine different countries. Barnard had various occupations mainly of a commercial nature, Morrice was a career diplomat. Both visited Scotland with sufficient frequency to maintain their respective links with the country and their knowledge of Scotch whisky.

A common denominator, however, is a strong family link with Australia (where Philip Morrice currently resides). There is a large Barnard presence in Australia flowing from Alfred’s elder brother, James, who migrated there in about 1855. He had nine children and – not surprisingly – there are over 400 direct descendents. Two Morrice brothers arrived from Aberdeenshire via Jamaica as free settlers in about 1824. They prospered and multiplied and there are today about 100 Morrice families in the country. To these were added Philip Morrice and his family when they arrived in 1995. All come from the same roots in Aberdeenshire.

Barnard and Morrice, although they obviously never met, do combine to bring to their respective readers or readers in common, a unique insight into the world of single malt whisky which has changed much with the passage of time, but whose durability through quality and tradition is hard to match.