Month: October 2024

#49 Blackness Bay

The craft distillery with a pirate twist

 

TL; DR: On a lazy mid-September Saturday afternoon, we did a last-minute trip to a distillery we’d only recently found out about: Blackness Bay, near the famous castle.It was a very fun tour, one of a kind, and the distillery is a little gem. 

The resurgence of the scotch whisky industry, started towards the end of the 90s after the downturn of the 80s, led to a high number of distilleries being built. It was, and in some extent it still is, a boom of new distilleries in almost every part of Scotland, including the most remote ones like the Shetland islands.

Among the whisky regions, as defined by the SWA, one that saw the biggest increase in the number of distilleries is the Lowlands. Until a few years ago only two malt distilleries were constantly producing, Auchentoshan and Glenkinchie, with a third one seeing periods of alternate fortune, Bladnoch. Nowadays, both Edinburgh and Glasgow could theoretically claim the “region” status as both have more than three malt distilleries each (Bonnington, Holyrood, Port of Leith, and the nearby Glenkinchie the first; Auchentoshan, Glasgow, and Clydeside the latter). Similarly, Fife went from one grain distillery only (Cameronbridge) to one grain and six malt distilleries currently producing, or about to (Kingsbarn, Inchdairnie, Lindores Abbey, Daftmill, Aberargie, Eden Mill). The Central Belt, stretching between Edinburgh and Glasgow, where a lot of the Scottish industrial production is concentrated, is no exception: a lot of new distilleries came online decades after the closure of St Magdalene (1983) and Rosebank (1993, now rebuilt). In this and the next few posts we’ll talk about some of these new distilleries in this area, all visited in September 2024.

  • View of the castle from the beach.

The first one is by far the smallest one of the bunch, as a matter of fact one of the smallest in Scotland: Blackness Bay distillery. It is quite a novelty, as they started producing whisky only about a year ago (October 2023), while also making rum. Being that new, it doesn’t feature in the SWA map yet nor in the malt whisky yearbook. The distillery is in the middle of the Blackness village, home to the famous Blackness Castle is (we still have to watch Outlander, btw), but not much else. Despite being relatively close to Edinburgh, reaching it by public transports is a nightmare, so we just drove there (Teresa got the short straw that day). We arrived at destination a bit early, just enough time for a stroll along the beach to get some of the refreshing sea breeze.

  • We could hear Colm tuning his bagpipe…the tour was about to start.

The distillery, a long and low building, is part of a complex including a pub, the Lobster Pot, a big stone house, and a large garden in the middle of the three. The two founders, Colm and Sheena, acquired the whole complex about 15 years ago. More recently they stopped managing the pub/restaurant, so they decided to set up this small distillery, in the shed that used to be a bakery and brewery for the pub. It took two years for the project to complete.

  • It was the wrong door…Now the tour is really about to start.

Sheena was the one who gathered us, about a dozen people, in the pub’s courtyard. We could already hear Colm playing the bagpipe, that accompanied us in the short walk from the pub backyard to the distillery. That was unexpected! Then, he welcomed us and started telling a very peculiar version of the history of Blackness, all the way from the Roman settlements, the castle, and whisky in Scotland. It was genuinely funny and entertaining, and we all had a good laugh. This happened inside the distillery building, a cozy area with a bar and the shop. While Colm gave us his introduction, we had a sip of their products, starting with the Blackness Bay Flowers of Scotland Pink Rum, then the Jacobite Spice Rum, the White Rum, the 6-month-old oak-aged malt spirit: this is called Virgin Mary, a hint to the future realises of scotch whisky that will be called “Mary Queen of Scotch”, name that caused some dispute with the trademark office.

  • Smelling what goes into rum.

We soon moved to the production area, located in the same building, all in a big space. They get pre-milled barley from Crisp, in Alloa, so they don’t have a mill (it would be hard to fit one in there). So they proceed directly to mashing, with local tap water first warmed up to 70°C in the kettle, before sparging (done by hand) Fermentation lasts 6 to 7 days, and the wash is then distilled in the wash still, Lucifer, and re-distilled in the spirit still, Lilith. From the second distillation they take a cut from 80%abv to about 63%, in our understanding. Rum production is similar, with molasses brought in, fermented for longer (10 days) and distilled in the same pair of stills twice, or three times for the ones with botanicals, after cleaning the equipment. At this point, we got some new make spirit to try, which tasted very caramelly, with a good mouthfeel a not too much burn despite its high abv. 

  • A wee distillery…and a museum!

We then moved next door to check out the small warehouse where casks are kept: mostly ex-bourbon barrels, some ex-Islay to introduce some smoky element, and some hogshead and quarter casks. At this point the tour was mostly ended, with people slowly moving towards the Lobster Pot pub, while we had a chit-chat with Colm and Sheena. Unfortunately, we didn’t book the tour with the dinner included, so after finding out that there was no free table at the pub, we went back to our van and left.

  • The smallest, cutest warehouse.

A very interesting visit overall, they are a lovely couple, and their tour was definitely an experience. Their spirit is nice too, but of course we need another couple of years before trying their scotch whisky, so we’ll patiently wait. In the meanwhile, we might pop in again at the Lobster Pot, possibly with a booked table, to enjoy what looked like a very nice pub!

In two weeks, another Central Belt distillery, this time a bit more far away. Until then, slainte!

Blackness Bay Distillery

Price: £20.00 pp (September 2024), £10.00 pp for drivers

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: Flowers of Scotland Pink Rum (43%), Jacobite Spiced Rum (43%), White Rum (43%), Virgin Mary aged spirit (50%)

Target: everyone

Value for money: very good

Highlights: Colm and Sheena are great

Recommended: yes

Link: https://www.blacknessbaydistillery.co.uk/

#48.2 Islagain

In the Jack Russell’s den: Ardbeg

 

TL; DR: Among the Islay distilleries, we left a good one for last: Ardbeg! Together with our pals, we went there for a tour and a snack: we were not disappointed, the tour was good, and very relaxed. We even got a special gift! 

(missed Part 1?)

After our Saturday celebrations, we had an “early” start on Sunday: we had booked a distillery tour at 10.30, and we had a 40-min drive from Bowmore to get there. It was a sunny day, so during our drive we enjoyed a great view of the island’s landmarks: peat bogs, the Laggan Bay, the Oa, Port Ellen maltings and village, the Kildalton coast…Our destination? Ardbeg! We arrived a few minutes early, just enough to browse the shop and take pictures in front of the distillery to mark an achievement: our 10th on Islay, the 90th Scottish one, 109 in total.

As we’re not that seasoned in our whisky journey, we haven’t experienced legendary Ardbeg drams like the Uigedail’s first batch (although, the current one is still pretty delicious) or the original 17yr old (we’re not very excited about the clumsy attempt at reviving it, as it’s silly expensive). However, in our early whisky days, Ardbeg 10 was one of the first serious drams we tried, and still a safe bet nowadays: there might be some batch variation, but in general it’s pretty solid. When we started exploring the range, we found other excellent expressions as well: Uigedail as we said, Corryvreckan and the more recent For Discussion are great, while An Oa and Wee Bestie are fine. While we don’t mind too much the silly marketing, we are a bit put off by the high prices of limited releases. But we reckon, if they sell, good for them: we’re happy to stick we the solid core range.

  • 10th Islay distillery, yay!

Back to present, our tour guide was Becca, who took us to the pier and gave us a dram while explaining the history of the distillery: of course it was their flagship, Ardbeg 10 (bottled at 46%, matured in first fill and refill ex-bourbon casks). The distillery was founded by the MacDougall’s family in 1815, and saw some ups and downs, it was even closed for some periods. In recent times, after the LVMH/Glenmorangie acquisition (for £5.5m), they had to release younger whisky because of the lack of stock of the 10yr old. They used to have two malting floors, dismissed in 1981, which are now used as visitor centre, restaurant and warehouse.

Once inside the distillery, we first got into the mill room, where the Bobby mill is still going strong (btw, it’s one of the 17 currently working Bobby mills in Scotland, including Ardnahoe and Bruichladdich). The grist split is the usual, and once milled the barley is moved into the mashtun, where 18,000 litres of water at 65°C are added for the mashing.

  • One of the 17th Bobby mills in Scotland.

Their water source is the Loch Uigedail, located 3 miles away, which then goes into the Charlie’s dam, at the distillery. The second water (8,000 litres at 80-85°C) is then added to complete the mash, while 18,000 litres of the third water (90-95°C) are used as first water for the following mash. They used to do 22 mashes per week, now they cut back to 16. For fermentation, they have 12 washbacks, six original made of Oregon pine (Douglas Fir), plus the new ones. At this point in the tour, Becca gave us the second dram, a glass of Uigedail. Fermentation lasts 66 hours and, once fully fermented, the wash is split in two to fill up the two new wash stills for the first distillation.

We visited both the new and the old still room, the latter being quite tight and very traditional, with the two dismissed stills: apparently one reached its end of life as the new stillroom was built. There, Becca explained us the role of peat and she gifted us a small block! Teresa was not so keen, but Gianluigi was: now it’s on display in our kitchen! We moved on to the new stillroom and its two pairs of new shiny stills, shaped exactly like the old ones. It’s a very modern build, where everything is computerised, including a huge window that was open to get some fresh air. During the second distillation, the newmake spirit is collected after 10 minutes of foreshots, from an abv of 74%, for five hours down to 69%: the rest (feints) is put together with the foreshots and redistilled with the next batch of low wines from the first distillation. Here, Becca gave us the third dram, a Corryvreckan. The tour ended at the pier again, where everyone could finish their dram at their leisure…Except Gianluigi, who went back to the visitor centre to collect his driver drams pack (in a tube, quite distinctively). Other than the glass, they also gave us a five-pound voucher each to be used for merchandising or on the core-range bottlings (min £40).

  • The new still room…That’s big!

After the tour, we had a snack: unfortunately the restaurant was closed for a private event, but we could get some tasty food at the cart in the courtyard, and the weather (although windy) was good enough to eat outside. We then drove back to Bowmore, where we dropped our friends at their accommodation.

  • Such a lovely day.

Our intention was to go for a walk, but as it was starting to rain, we jumped back in the van instead and we visited a bit of Islay we hadn’t been before: the Rhinns. We drove to Portnahaven, where we had some seafood at the An Tigh Seinnse, a local pub. It was truly delicious, and we left the village very happy, also because we spotted seals in the bay. Overall, another good day on Islay.

The day after we just had a walk and a coffee in Bowmore, before driving first to Bunnahabhain (Gianluigi had to catch up the tour he’d missed on the Saturday) and then to Port Askaig for our ferry back to the mainland.

  • Seals spotting in Portnahaven.

Another nice wee holiday on Islay. While Bunnahabhain unfortunately dropped the ball, Ardbeg was great, with a very good tour that could fit both newbies and more seasoned whisky geeks (just a shame we didn’t get to see the warehouses). In our experience so far, we think Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Bowmore, Bruichladdich and Lagavulin offer the best “regular” distillery tours on the island (full disclosure: we haven’t done the regular tour at Kilchoman).

If we combine the two previous trips on Islay, overall we managed to “bag” nine distilleries, out of the ten currently working distilleries on the Island (plus Jura!), and we got to 10 with Ardbeg on this trip. As we are writing this post, we heard the news that the construction company building the 11th one, Portintruan, filed for administration, and we are wondering if this is going to delay the project. Finally, there is a 12th distillery in the pipeline: Laggan Bay, a collaboration between the Islay Boys and Ian McLeods (Glengoyne, Tamdhu and now Rosebank), but as far as we know works haven’t started yet. So, probably for a while we’ll be able to claim that we have visited all distilleries on Islay. Yay!

Stay tuned for some Lowland action! Until then, slainte!

Ardbeg Quintessential Tour

Price: £20.00 pp (August 2024)

Duration: 1hr 15min

Tasting: 3 drams, Ardbeg 10 (46% ex-bourbon casks), Uigedail (54.2%, ex-bourbon and Oloroso casks), Corryvreckan (57.1%, ex-bourbon and French oak)

Target: both casual and more seasoned drinkers

Value for money: very good

Highlights: the new still room

Recommended: yes

Link: https://www.ardbeg.com/en-int/visitus.html