The Royal Oak
The Royal Oak
30 Fife Street, Dufftown
What is it? This local pub is nestled in the picturesque main street of Dufftown, on the famous Malt Whisky trail through the Highlands. Wandering in by chance, we were met with glowing family hospitality by the owner, Pearl, and her granddaughter, Shannon, and subsequently their very large malt collection.
The bar itself is small but comfortable, has a working fireplace, traditional central wood bar, some historical distillery marketing framed on the wall and a pool table. The pub has been in the family for the last 18 years and to be honest the fairly modest surroundings go unnoticed when you're propped at the bar engaging in the banter.
Interesting fact: Around half of Scotland's distilleries are in the small Speyside region. September is the time to visit Dufftown for their annual whisky festival. The Autumn Speyside Whisky Festival includes the famous seven stills tour, music, dancing, pipe bands and craft fairs which attract visitors from all around the world to what is still a uniquely local affair.
Verdict: A gem of a find, not least down to experiencing the kind of honest (you may end up the butt of a joke or two) Scottish banter that is sometimes hard to find these days. Despite being strangers, we were welcomed like close neighbours immediately.
Food: No food offering here at present, but you will get the best of local knowledge about where's good to go.
Drink: A huge array of single malts on offer from knowledgeable but impartial staff: possibly the best way to work through such a collection.
Price: Great value for money and a welcome break from paying city centre prices.
Kids: Dogs, weans, auld and young will be welcomed here.
Alfresco: There are picnic benches at the side.
Perfect for: Sampling the finest drams, meeting the locals and hearing tales from far and wide.
Avoid if: You're looking for a spot for a meeting or plan to get your laptop out.
Follow me on @andydrink or on facebook
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article