Take a special trip this summer. Lily Franky will guide you through Scotland

A 7-day, 5-night trip to Scotland in search of authentic whisky and distilleries

"Whiskey is a man's romance" -- I don't know who first said this phrase, but after watching the video of Lily Franky traveling around distilleries in Scotland, I could understand why someone would say something like that.

The video in question is "PILGRIMS: To the place I wanted to go," which is available on the GQ JAPAN website. It is a documentary produced in collaboration with WOWOW, and PILGRIMS means "pilgrims."

Lily-san had visited Islay Island in Scotland four years ago for the WOWOW program "Pilgrimage to Holy Lands: Lily Franky's Western Liquor Journey," but this time she visited Speyside, an area where about half of Scotland's malt whisky distilleries are concentrated. It is the home of Scotch whisky, so to speak.

The video version distributed by "GQ JAPAN" consists of 12 episodes, each about 3 minutes long. The story unfolds in a way that is typical of short films, and although the videos are very short, Lily's storytelling style, which includes a succession of famous lines from the beginning, draws you in.

In the first episode, he takes a sip of a rare Mortlach that has been aged for 50 years and says, "It has the taste of a nice mature woman," and then begins to describe the mature woman, saying, "You can see the scenery this whiskey has seen."

"I came to Tokyo after graduating from a commercial high school and married into a good family."

"It won't taste like this if you play around."

"No matter how good a place I married into, I still haven't forgotten my hometown of Seoul."

With just one sip of whiskey, images of different people emerge one after the other. Who wouldn't want to see what it tastes like and want to try it for themselves?

Experience the collaboration between the Scottish wilderness and the distillery

In the second episode, he visits the River Livet, which is the water source for the Glenlivet distillery, and says, "Going to the distillery feels like going to my favorite child's family home," and "Seeing the water source feels like saying hello to my parents at home." I was impressed by his sense of words.

Lily has also written many works as a writer, including "Tokyo Tower," and it seems that her linguistic sense may have been cultivated in part by drinking whiskey. It's easy to imagine how talkative Lily is when faced with whiskey.

The program visits three distilleries: Ballindalloch (Episode 6), which was just established in 2014; Glenfiddich (Episode 10), which values analog elements even in mass production; and Macallan, known as the Rolls Royce of single malts (Episode 12).

The Macallan exhibit, which not only has a distillery but also countless bottles several metres high, offers spectacular images that make Lily exclaim, "It's like a modern art museum."

There are also some memorable scenes that give you a taste of the unique excitement of shopping while traveling.

The differences between each distillery are a highlight, but another scene that gives off a sense of ``a man's romance'' is the one in which Lily goes shopping locally.

In the third episode, she impulsively buys a commemorative bottle made when Prince Charles remarried Camilla. Her childlike excitement somehow brings a smile to your face.

In episode 8, she visits Gordon & MacPhail, a long-established bottler founded in 1895, and is offered a "special whiskey" to try. It turns out that the "special whiskey" was bottled in November 1963, the same year as Lily was born. As if guided by fate, she buys a bottle for 2,500 pounds (about 350,000 yen).

"If I don't buy it, who else will?" and "I could buy something like this for the price you'd get if you were partying at a club in Ginza," says Lily, still excited. It's as if he's making excuses to himself, and I think every man has had a similar experience.

It was a scene that made me feel like it was something that was happening to me, and at the same time, it gave me the unique sense of elation I get when I splurge on a purchase.

Other episodes such as episode 5, in which the cast visits the home of a whiskey-loving driver accompanying the reporters on a reporting assignment, and episode 7, in which the cast compares two types of whiskey made from the same liquor that had been aged in different barrels for 57 years, are full of deep, human stories that give viewers a sense of the mysterious charm of whiskey.

In episode 10, Lily shares her opinion on the differences between whiskey and wine, and one of the most memorable things she says is, "Men have a tendency to fall in love with people."

Looking back at all 12 episodes with that in mind, one notices that many of them have "feelings" as their keyword. If you put your hand on your heart, you will understand that this is the biggest motivating factor for men.

Perhaps therein lies the reason why whiskey is said to be "a man's romance."

information

"PILGRIMS" by "GQ JAPAN" & WOWOW Special
"7 Days in Scotland Visiting Whisky Distilleries in Speyside"
Sign up here

Program Overview

"PILGRIMS: To the place I wanted to go - Lily Franky, Speyside Edition"
Produced by 『GQ JAPAN』 & WOWOW

Produced and copyrighted by: Condé Nast Japan & WOWOW Inc.
https://gqjapan.jp/series/gq-pilgrims-movie

"GQ JAPAN" Official Website
https://gqjapan.jp/video/life/PILGRIMS

"GQ JAPAN" official summary page
https://gqjapan.jp/culture/movie/pilgrims

『GQ JAPAN』Official YouTube
http://youtube.com/GQJAPAN

WOWOW official program website
http://wowow.bs/pilgrims