Category: Road trip

#48.1 Islagain






Nice drams with a sour aftertaste: Bunnahabhain

 

TL; DR: And we’re back to Islay for the second time this summer! After a quiet Friday afternoon, the next morning we had our first tasting, followed by a tour at one of our favourite distilleries: Bunnahabhain. The tasting was great as usual, but what happened afterwards was a major let down for us. 

Driving to Islay is always a big trip: it takes about four hours to drive from Leith to the Kennacraig ferry terminal, and then the ferry trip is another couple of hours. However, once you’re on the island, you forget about all of this as the atmosphere in which you’re immersed is something else. Everything slows down and there is a sense of quiet and tranquillity. It’s a strange mix between feeling energised and relaxed, with the mind finally off the million thoughts of everyday life. Maybe this a feature of all remote places.

The excuse for this trip came when our friends Glaire and Clay asked us to join them on their trip to celebrate their friend’s birthday. That was a proposition too good to be true, so we happily accepted. On a Friday morning, we picked them up and started driving westward, first to Glasgow and then up along Loch Lomond, past Arrochar south-west, and along the Argyll’s lochs (as we write, we can almost visualise the trip). We had a wee stop for a coffee (well, and a wee) in Inveraray, at the George Hotel. We also enjoyed their morning rolls, unbelievably tasty. A pity we didn’t manage to meet our friend Ivan. The rest of the drive was uneventful, everything was on time, and we got safely to Bowmore where our friends had booked a small apartment. We parked our van not too far away and hanged out with them. In the evening, after dinner at the Lochside, we met their friends for a drink at the Duffie’s, just next door. It was a nice evening but we were very tired, so after a while we just went back to sleep.

  • A stroll in Bowmore.

The day after we were very excited: our first time back to Bunnahabhain, after our visit in spring 2022. Bunna is one of our favourite whiskies, and it rarely disappoints us: we both love the unpeated sherried stuff, and the peated one too (it’s actually one of the best peated malts in our opinion). So, the jolly party of three (Glaire skipped this one) left Bowmore on Mr Vantastic, and after a quick stop to check out the Ardnahoe shop, we got to our destination. The day was cloudy, a tad windy but not enough to keep the midges away, which in the minute we spent outside the visitor centre destroyed us!

  • Paps of Jura, we’ll see you another time.

Once safely inside, we met the guide for the tasting: Matthew, which after a brief introduction walked us to Warehouse 9, the former malting floor. We were 5 people in total, so quite an intimate tour – the first time it was 13 people and felt like a crowd in comparison. The tasting was fun, as usual, Matthew was a good entertainer and very knowledgeable, and let people draw the whisky from the cask (Gianluigi tried too).

  • Mastering (?) the valinch.

The first dram was an unpeated one, a 2007 ex-Muscat cask (16y), bottled at 53.7%. A very sweet and delicious dram. It was followed by a 2014 (9y) ex-Canasta sherry cask: this is a brand of cream sherry, which is a mix of Oloroso and PX. This dram was bottled at 58.4%, stronger at the palate as well. We moved on to the peated drams, first a 2011 vintage fully matured in a refill ex-Cognac cask (58.9%); the cask was used for a finish first, so the Cognac influence wasn’t too strong. It was followed by a 2013 (10y) ex-Bordeaux red wine cask (57.9%), re-casked into this only after two years, in 2015. The last one was truly stunning, a real dirty belter of a dram.

  • Two friends pretending not to enjoy the moment.

However, here is where things went wrong. Back at the visitor centre, we were told that we could participate in the tour because we’d drunk before at the tasting, and they could allow inebriated people in production. While we could see where this rule comes from (after all, we both did the 2-hour Scottish Training for Alcohol Retailers and Servers training, so we can see the logic), we really didn’t expect this to happen: it wasn’t written anywhere and in other distilleries (including Deanston, of the same company) we’d visited production after a tasting. There, they mentioned the T&C, which is always an “out-of-jail” card, but later that day we verified and that was not true (at the time, more on this later). We asked if we could have a refund, and here is the annoying part: they told us they couldn’t issue any! Thus, to avoid losing £40 we decided for Teresa to go on the tour on her own (she was the driver that day, so she’d not drunk at the tasting), while Gianluigi would come back on the Monday to catch up, just before the ferry back to the mainland. The following tour description is a summary of both our tours, which were given by the same guide. They were probably in training, as both tours only covered the basics, but as we said in other occasions, you need to start somewhere.

  • The old visitor centre.

The distillery, whose name means the Mouth of the River, was founded in 1881, originally doing peated malt, but turned to unpeated later: nowadays they do both. Their flagship malt, the Bunnahabhain 12, was first released in 1979, almost a hundred years after founding. What is really hard to wrap our head around, is that until the 60s there was no road to the distillery, so everything that went there and back was by boat, quite incredible! They have one of the iconic Porteus mills since 1964, which grinds the barley usually sourced from Simpson, on the mainland. In the resulting grist, the husk/grit/flour split is 20/70/10, as usual. It is then sent to a big mashtun (full leuter and covered by a copper lid), 8.6 tonnes at the time, where it is mashed with the usual three waters at increasing temperatures, to maximise the sugar extraction in their cloudy wort. The draff, discard from mashing, is used for their biomass plant, as opposed to many distilleries that sell or give it to farmers to feed cows.

  • The mashtun is bigger than it looks.

Currently, they do 23 mashes per week, which are then moved to ferment into one of the six Oregon pine washbacks for 52 hours to reach about 8%abv. They have only one pair of stills, and during the second distillation they take a cut from 74% to 64%, discarding and redistilling the head (above the first cut point) and the tails (after the second one). After a quick nip to the warehouse and a look at the pier, we walked back to the visitor centre for the two-dram tasting. Surprisingly, there wasn’t their flagship 12-year old, but a dram each of the two non-age statement expressions: Stiuireadair (unpeated), and Toiteach A Dhà (peated). Meh.

  • An old fashioned still room.
  • Teresa unable to take a selfie with the still room in the background…
  • …while Gianluigi doing a better job.

A bit deflated, we left the distillery and drove back to Bowmore, where we had a quick meal before driving to the birthday party. There, we met some very nice people and had lot of fun, playing garden games and having delicious food. In the evening, we had a final couple of drams at our friends’ flat, before retiring in the campervan.

Honestly, this was one of the most disappointing distillery visits we had recently, which made us sad as Bunnahabhain is one of our favourite whiskies. We excused the increase in £10 for the Warehouse 9 tasting compared to 2022, although for four drams it is has became quite steep. Someone could argue that they are expensive drams, they are indeed, but the reason is that they are almost insanely priced: the 20cl bottle of the whiskies we tried ranged between £45 and £60, which is £145 to £195 for a full 70cl bottle, out of touch. Also, the choice to replace the Bunnahabhain 12 with the Stiuireadair (maybe the only bad Bunna we ever tried) in the tasting after the tour is quite a strange and cheap move. Would you imagine going to Lagavulin/Caol Ila/Ardbeg/Bruichladdich, paying for the basic tour and not getting a dram of their flagship 16/12/10/Classic Laddie? Yep, not even the Evil Empire does that.

  • Back to a calmer atmosphere in Bowmore.

But of course, what we really did not like was the way we were treated, and the lack of flexibility or willingness to try to fix a problem that wasn’t our fault in the first place. It’s true the staff gave Gianluigi and Clay “reparation” drams while Teresa was doing the tour, but at the same time we felt we were treated like we had done something wrong, which wasn’t true at all. At that time, it wasn’t written anywhere that we couldn’t do the tour after the warehouse tasting. Fortunately they recently changed the website (we wonder whether it wasn’t just us having this problem). Since the reservations were made under the same name/email, it would have costed the staff 5 minutes to touch base via email before. But what really made them unprofessional was that someone could have just told us before the tasting, when we checked in (and said we’d booked both tasting and tour). We would have both got drivers drams. We later complained via email, and they promised a refund for the tours (refund still not received, at the time of writing over a month later).

To wrap up this rant: will we still drink Bunnahabhain? Definitely, it’s too delicious to let go. Will we still buy from the distillery? Maybe, there are many indies out there with great Bunnas. Will we go back for another tasting or visit? Probably not for a very long time.

Stay tuned for some happier action the next day, a visit to the only Islay distillery we hadn’t visited yet…Can you guess which one? Until then, slainte!

Bunnahabhain Warehouse Tour

Price: £50.00 pp (August 2024)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting: 4 drams (25ml, all natural colour and unchillfiltered), 2007, 16y, ex-Muscat cask, 53.7% (70/20cl bottles for £195/£60); 2014, 9y, ex-Canasta sherry cask, 58.4% (£145/£45); 2011 Moine (peated) fully matured in a refill ex-Cognac cask, 58.9% (£155/£55); 2013, 10y, Moine ex-Bordeaux red wine cask, 57.9% (£145/£50), and a copita to take home

Distillery Exclusive: see above

Target: whisky nerds

Value for money: a tad pricey

Highlights: Warehouse 9 is always special

Recommended: yes

Link: https://bunnahabhain.com/

Bunnahabhain Production Tour

Price: £20.00 pp (August 2024)

Duration: 1hr (almost)

Tasting: 2 drams (20ml), Bunnahabhain Stiuireadair (46.3%), Toiteach A Dhà (46.3%)

Distillery Exclusive: see box above

Target: casual drinkers and tourists

Value for money: ok

Highlights: the still room

Recommended: if you’re looking for a basic distillery tour, there are better options on the island

Link: https://bunnahabhain.com/

#47 A dip in the south

A trip to Crafty distillery

 

TL; DR: Since our first trip to Dumfries and Galloway, there is a new kid on the block down there: Crafty distillery. Previously producing gin and vodka, now they added whisky (well, newmake for the time being) to their portfolio. As the name suggests, their operation is quite small and…”crafty” indeed, very interesting. 

Part of the fun of having a campervan is to have the freedom to decide on a trip at the very last minute, without worrying about accommodation (which in Scotland can be quite tricky, both in terms of availability and price). As usual, the idea for the trip came from a newly available whisky distillery tour, this time in Newton Stewart, in Galloway. We’d already been in the area, in 2022 for Teresa birthday’s trip, when we visited Bladnoch (and later Annandale and the Lakes distilleries). However, back then we didn’t hike nor enjoy much the beautiful landscape (also, it was March…and rainy). This time instead, we planned a few non-whisky activities too.

We left early on the Saturday morning, leaving a quiet and still traffic-free Leith. The first stop of the trip, just to grab a coffee and a bite, was Kilmarnock, the town that gave birth to John Walker and its 200 years old legacy. We found a nice spot on the high street (the Courtyard Artisan Bakery, delicious rolls!!), after which we had a short walk to snoop around…after all, this stop wasn’t exactly random. And it paid off, we found what we were looking for: JW original shop building!

  • It took a while but…
  • we found it! John Walker shop.

Back in the van, we drove towards Glen Trool, where we’d planned to hike around the namesake Loch before going to our scheduled tour in Newton Stewart. We drove south, towards Ayr, and then in Maybole we turned slightly eastward on a narrow road (between the A713 and A714). Unfortunately, this turned out to be a bad choice (thanks Google!), as the road was interrupted with no previous signage before. So, we had to detour on even narrower roads, through North Balloch, Glengennet and Barr, to rejoin the A714 in Pinmore. It was an adventure, but it meant we were way too late to attempt a hike, so we drove directly to Newton Stewart instead, for a bite before the tour at Crafty distillery. Nothing really inspired us among the options we could find online, so we decided to park at the distillery, which is just outside the village, walk back and choose a place on the fly. However, we were in luck: that day the distillery had a special guest in the courtyard, Triko’s Deli (from Thornhill) with their delicious bagels: lunch was sorted! We still walked to the village for a coffee and to move our legs.

  • Despite the raod diversions, here we are!

Back at the distillery, it was time for the tour. The distillery is an all-in-one building, with the production just behind the shop. Given the limited space, there are no warehouses on site, but they send their casks to mature a few miles south to Whiskybroker’s warehouses, in Creetown. The tour was very small, six people including us, plus Nicky, the distillery manager, who showed us around.

  • A very small distillery.

The distillery was founded in 2017, and at first they made gin (Hills&Harbour, quite popular) and vodka (24 Seven), plus a gin liqueur. Contrary to other small and craft gin brands, they do everything from scratch, and don’t buy the neutral grain spirit to be redistilled. They have a column still for that purpose, from which, approximately once every 10 days, they distil a wash obtained from 100% wheat, getting a ~95%abv spirit. For the vodka, the wash is filtered and reduced, while for the gin it is redistilled with 11 botanicals from the coast and the forests around (hence, the name). Back to whisky, they get malted barley from Bairds in 15ton batches. As whisky production was a recent addition, the equipment is not placed in a way to follow the production stages – for example, the two stills are not next to each other. They do 2 mashes per week in a half-ton semi-lauter mashtun, starting with water at 63.5°C. The wort is recirculated in the mashtun to allow filtration by the grist bed, so to get a clear wort. The second water is sparged, in a process similar to brewing. The wort is then moved in one of the two iStill washbacks, each one with a 2,000-litre capacity. Fermentation is quite long, seven days, and it is activated using three types of yeast: distillers, German wheat beer and Champaign. The washbacks are equipped with a cooling jacket to stabilise the fermentation temperature, which made sense given the small building, easy to warm up. They have two stills, a 1,000-litre wash still and a 250-litre spirit still, both with tube-and-shells condensers. The second distillation starts with a 10-minute foreshots run (the head), followed by a spirit cut between 77% and 69% abv, giving about 120 litres of spirit. It is then reduced to 63.5% and put into casks. Every fermentation provides wash for two distillations, from which they get about 250 litres of newmake spirit at filling strength. Other than the usual cask types, they use small American barrels, 110-litre only, provided by the Texas Whitmeyer distillery (now closed?).

  • The shop and bar (no pictures allowed in the production area, sorry!)

After the production tour, we moved back into the bar/shop for the 3-dram tasting. First, the newmake spirit (63.5%), followed by two aged spirits: a 7-month old from an ex-PX octave cask (~62%), and a 6-month old from an experimental 5-litre Madeira cask…This reminded us of the approach Ardnamurchan had at the beginning, to mature spirit in smaller casks to have a rough idea of how it would be later. As a matter of fact, Nicky worked there before moving to the south of Scotland! The samples were good, of course very cask-forward, but still quite promising.

After the distillery, it was time to catch up our hike at Loch Trool. It was just a 30-minute drive from the distillery, so in less than an hour we were already on the path that loops around the Loch. Despite the car park being almost full, the path was not at all busy, so it ended up being a quiet walk. After the first bit, mostly inside a forest, the path opened up and the view on the loch was quite spectacular. It only rained for a few minutes, luckily so, as we were in the middle of the almost 11k walk when it happened!

  • A beautiful loch…
  • …full of history. Stone remembering the Glen Trool battle.

For the night, we’d found a great place to stay: Kirroughtree, managed by Forestry and Land Scotland. It is a leisure centre, with different trails, a mountain bike hire shop, and a café/gift shop. However, it is possible to spend the night there (for £7.00/vehicle), and from the morning there are public toilets open with showers (well, £3 for a cold shower was not ideal, but better than nothing!). If it sounds simple, it’s because it is: almost everything can be paid by card, at any time. We wonder why other places cannot have something like this (yes, we have mainly Islay in mind, but Dornoch and elsewhere too). We’re sure there are difficulties that we cannot think of in managing a night parking, but to be honest it doesn’t look impossible. 

  • Midges destroyed our plan to sip our drams outside.

Unfortunately, there were also some midges, not too many but enough for us to spend the evening inside the van, sipping the leftover drams from Crafty. In the morning, we went for a short run on the hill (Teresa wasn’t too happy about that) before a nice (and cold) shower and a good breakfast (Teresa was much happier then), once the cafè opened. One the way back, we did one further stop at the A.D. Rattray shop, in Maybole, because…why not.

It was a nice trip, we really enjoyed the beauty of this part of Scotland, not as popular as other ones but still fantastic, while visiting a nice wee distillery at the same time. Crafty looks on a good trajectory spirit-wise, so we are looking forward to trying their single malt once ready.

Next week it’s going to be a pause weekend, but then we’ll be back on Islay! Until then, slainte!

Crafty Whisky Distillery Tour

Price: £20.00 pp + £2 booking fee (July 2024)

Duration: 1hr 15min

Tasting: 3 drams newmake spirit (63.5%), 7-month old from an ex-PX octave cask (~62%), and a 6-month old from an experimental 5-litre Madeira cask, plus a glencairn to take home

Target: everyone, but probably mostly suited for whisky curious

Value for money: good

Highlights: a nice place to chill out even if you’re not a whisky fan

Recommended: yes if you’re a whisky curious

Link: https://craftydistillery.com/

Other points of interest in the area

Loch Trool trail: https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/galloway/loch-trool.shtml

Kirroughtree, Galloway Forest Park’s getaway centre: https://forestryandland.gov.scot/visit/forest-parks/galloway-forest-park/kirroughtree

Whiskybroker, Creetown: https://www.whiskybroker.co.uk/?age_consent=1

A.D. Rattray shop, Maybole: https://www.adrattray.com/

#46.6 The return of the smoke

One last stop in C-town

 

TL; DR: Back on the mainland, we indulged in a further treat before driving back home: a morning in Campbeltown. After spending the night in a camping just outside town, we drove there to get some goodies from Springbank and do a generous Cadenhead’s Warehouse tasting, very well conducted by Aly. What else?

(missed Part 5/Part 4/Part 3/Part 2/Part 1?)

The ferry back from Islay was uneventful. Once on the mainland, at the junction with the A83, instead of turning left towards north, we turned right, southwards. Well, at first we actually turned north, but just because we made a mistake and Gianluigi forgot to turn on the data on his phone, so Waze couldn’t help much. Anyway, our destination was Campbeltown. There were two available campsites near Campbeltown (unfortunately none in town), one in Machrianish, near the airport, and one on the east Kintyre coast, a mere 10-minute drive north of town, in Peninver. We opted for the latter, and to get there, we drove through the east coast of Kintyre. The road is a single track, much smaller compared to the faster one on the west of the peninsula. However, because it was a beautiful sunny evening, the landscape was quite spectacular, with the isle of Arran clearly visible. Around 7.30pm, we arrived at the Peninver Sands campsite: small but tidy, with campervan pitches on grass just a few dozen meters from the beach, behind a row of static caravans.

  • Not a bad spot for the night…

After dinner and a well-deserved shower, we had a few of the drams collected during the day. We were pleasantly surprised by the differences in the Laphroaig 10 cask strength batches (13 to 16): some more smoky, some more fruity, some harsher while others very mellow, drinking like a lesser abv whisky. We totally embraced batch variations! Unfortunately, there were midges outside, so we had to enjoy the drams in the van. That’s the West Scotland summer curse: either crappy weather or midges…What a bummer!

  • …except for the midges!

The morning was sunny again, and light came in through the van windows. Edo was the first one to wake up, we followed soon after. We then had breakfast, another shower (just because) and a walk to the beach. We dipped our feet in the incredibly cold water: after a minute we felt like pins in them. Then, we drove southwards under the Kintyre morning sun. Soon after we arrived in Campbeltown, where it was easy to find parking not too far from Springbank.

That was in fact our first destination, first to check out what the cage had to offer. Edo got himself a 7y heavily peated Kilkerran matured in bourbon casks, while we got a sherried teenager Kilkerran matured in sherry (probably Oloroso) and a 9y Longrow matured in refill Palo Cortado sherry cask. Of course it is always a gamble, but a safe one: never had a bad nor an average cage dram. A few days later the former two were mentioned in Roy’s vPub, hinting to two memorable drams (ours aren’t open yet at the time of writing, but we feel optimistic).

  • Three whisky enthusiasts in the old whisky capital.

It was soon time for the Cadenhead’s Warehouse Tasting. To our surprise, the meeting point was not the Springbank visitor centre, as the previous two times (three for Gianluigi). This was because the venue for the tasting changed (for the second time in the last few years): instead of being held in one of the warehouses behind Springbank, Cadenhead’s recently acquired a building not too far from the new hub (shop and tasting room), that has been gradually converted into a warehouse dedicated to tastings.

  • A wee warehouse…

The tasting was guided by Aly, who did a great job guiding us through the usual range of tasty drams: it was informative and entertaining. We started with a blended malt, a vatting of a 24y Glenrothes, 12y Aultmore and 14y Dalwhinnie, from an ex-bourbon barrel, bottled at 54.9% abv: a tropical deliciousness. It was followed by a few drams from fortified wine casks: 16y Glentauchers ex-Oloroso hogshead (49.4%), a 13y Glenburgie from a Madeira barrique (57.5%), an ex-Amontillado 11y Glen Garioch (58%) and an Oloroso-finished 13y Craigellachie (finished for 4 years). All these drams were very well received, although for the three of us the Glen Garioch was a notch below the others: too herbaceous and harsh. Finally, the peated dram was a Staoisha (peated Bunnahabhain) 9y at 60.4%, finished for three years in a PX-cask: delicious, only reason we didn’t buy it because we have waaaaaay too many peated Bunna at home. So, after much debating we opted for the ex-Madeira Glenburgie and the tropical blend, by far the best value for money.

…with great drams.

We had our seventh dram at Cadenhead’s Tasting room (Ardmore 11y ex-PX cask, Deanston 15y ex-Manzanilla, and Balblair 10y ex-rum cask for Teresa to take home, to add to the other six drams). Then, we finally had a nice big lunch at the restaurant of the Royal hotel, before going back to the Washback bar for a final dram of Springbank, whose Edo is a big fan, before finally hitting the road.

  • Thanks Aly!

That day Teresa had the shortest straw, but the day was beautiful and sunny, and the drive was smooth. Edo and Gianluigi fell asleep for a few chunks of it. We only stopped once at Inveraray, to meet our friend Ivan who was saving some venison burgers for us, and we took the chance to try the Ardnamurchan Midgie at the George Hotel bar: a super funky and tasty dram.

  • One down!

Another Warehouse Tasting, another banger: we really enjoyed the range of drams, and Aly was very entertaining and fun. As we said other times, warehouse tastings are probably our favourite type of experience. There is something more when sipping drams just drawn from the cask, in the dumpy cold warehouse environment, surrounded by the “angel share” (i.e. vaporised alcohol). Similarly to our last Cadenhead’s Warehouse Tasting (two for Gianluigi), this tasting was structured and tidy, while the very first one back in 2018 was a bit more wild (and we had more samples, if we recall correctly). The concrete floor made it less dumpy as well, although thanks to this year not-so-warm summer, it was definitely chilly (and indeed Aly was very heavily dressed). Also, it’s great that Cadenhead’s are keeping it at £40 per person, which is an incredible value for money considering it includes 6 (+1 at the bar) drams. Other warehouse tastings are generally pricier, like Bunnahabhain (£50 for four drams) or Deanston (£40 for three drams). In this specific case, if we have to be really peaky, maybe the only thing that was missing was another ex-bourbon cask dram, after the first one. Anyway, with experiences like this, and the honestly priced drams, Cadenhead’s is leading the way in the scotch whisky landscape. Kudos to them!

The very last dram stop.

See you in a couple of weeks for more whisky action. Until then, slainte!

Cadenhead’s Warehouse Tasting

Price: £40.00 pp (July 2024)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting: 6 drams (plus a voucher for a seventh dram at the Cadenhead’s Tasting Room)

Target: whisky nerds

Value for money: great

Highlights: the drams

Recommended: absolutely

Link: https://experience.cadenhead.scot/

#46.5 The return of the smoke

Lagavulin and the rest of Kildalton

 

TL; DR: Final day on the island, it was time to visit the Kildalton coast and its distilleries. First, a tour at Lagavulin, followed by a nice lunch at Ardbeg. We closed the trip on Islay with a dram at Laphroaig, just before taking the ferry at Port Ellen.

(missed Part 4/Part 3/Part 2/Part 1?)

As usual, we woke up very early when the morning light entered Mr Vantastic. We stayed in bed and, somehow, we managed to sleep a bit longer. When we finally woke up, Justine was already up, and offered us some food. Despite being parked on the main road connecting Bowmore to Bridgend, the vehicles noise had not bothered us. We actually felt rested. We took turns to go to the public restrooms at the Bowmore square, and Gianluigi took advantage of his “trip” to stop at the Co-Op for some fruit and croissants.

  • An unexpectedly good spot for the night.

We soon jumped on the van and drove all the way down the island, past Port Ellen, to the Kildalton coast. There, we had our first (and only) tour booked for the day, at the Lagavulin distillery. We had visited it before, but for one of their warehouse tastings, at the time (May 2022) hosted by the legendary Iain McArthur, who recently retired. This time, we were going to visit production, to find out how they make the stuff. Before the tour started, and after Justine’s White Horse miniature photoshoot, we had a coffee at the Malt Mill bar, in the building of the former namesake distillery. This was a “short-lived” (well, still over 50 years!) distillery built by Peter Mackie in 1908, who aimed to replicate Laphroaig after he lost control of it following a court case loss. However, it quite never made it, so in 1962 the distillery was closed. After the coffee Justine said her goodbyes, as she was going to get an earlier ferry.

  • These guys are ready for the tour.

The production tour started in a very cosy room with nice chairs and old memorabilia, which is just along the hall, past the shop and the tasting room. Alice, our guide, started telling us about the history and anecdotes of distilling on Islay: like that the island was the first recorded place of whisky-making in Scotland, and that the first attempt of sending an excise man from the mainland almost resulted in a hanging. Lagavulin officially started distilling in 1816, when John Johnson decided to go legal after he was caught by an excise man. We soon moved to the old kiln, where a dram of Lagavulin 16, their flagship, was waiting for us (and a sample for the driver, Gianluigi today). There, we found out that their maltings closed in 1973. The peat currently used comes from Castle Hill, near the Islay Airport, and the barley is peated to 36 ppm (phenol parts per million), a lower peat level compared to other Islay distilleries, usually around 50-55 ppm. The water source is the same as the nearby Ardbeg, brown because it is “peated”, but then filtered before entering production (and no, despite the urban legends, the peaty water doesn’t give the whisky any additional smokiness).

  • A welcome dram in the old maltings, nice!

They use 24 tons of barley per day, which is first milled in a 1963 Porteus mill (usual split husk/grit/flour of 20/70/10%), before being mashed in a full leuter mashtun. There, the grist is mixed with 19,000 litres of water at 64°C, while the second (and last) water is first sparged and then heated up to 84°C. They currently run 4 mashes per day for 7 days a week, for a total production of 3.5 million litres of pure alcohol. The wash is then transferred in one of the 10 washbacks, 4 made of larch, 6 made of Oregon pine (or Douglas Fir). On one of the washbacks there was an ”intruder”…We couldn’t understand why it was there, but it was funny.

  • A funny guardian of the washback.

Fermentation is short, 55 hours only, and kickstarted with Mauri liquid yeast. At that point, one of the operation managers, Grant, “joined” the tour and contributed to the already quite exhaustive explanations that Alice gave us. They have four stills, two wash and two spirit stills. The cut they take from the second distillation is exceptionally wide, from 75% to 59-60%, taking 10 hours, plus other 5 hours of feints run (which are then mixed in the same tank and redistilled in the next batch of low wines). Together with the first distillation, that takes over 9 hours, Lagavulin features the longest distillation on Islay and one of the longest in Scotland.

  • A welcome addition to the classic selfie.

After a brief stop at the beautiful pier, we went back to the visitor centre for the tasting. The first dram was Lagavulin 8y (48%): as the 16y became more expensive in the last few years, this one became more and more prevalent, now available in supermarkets as well. We had a bottle at Teresa’s mother house, it is a solid dram, matured in ex-bourbon casks from the Bulleit distillery. Next up, the Distillers Edition: like the other ones in this series, it is finished in fortified wine casks, Pedro Ximénex sherry for this one. The Distillers Edition used to have a vintage year, but apparently it’s disappearing: Alice told us this one is around 14 years of age. As predictable, this was a sweet and decadent take on Lagavulin. Finally, a surprise: the Feis Ile 2024 edition. This year they released a heavily peated (55 ppm instead of 35) malt, aged for 10 years in refill bourbon casks: delicious smokiness, a shame it was so expensive (£175). We were also surprised by how they aligned the price of older Lagavulin 12 cask strength editions (2020 and 2021 for sure) to the most recent releases: they were all £150, for some a jump of £20 compared to the RRP at release!

  • Drams in a cosy tasting room.

Overall we really liked the Lagavulin tour, and it confirmed us that it is one of the best distilleries to visit, for sure the best in the Diageo portfolio, at least based on our experience. Alice was knowledgeable, and Grant contribution was the cherry on top: the tour was really informative! They served us four drams, more than most basic tours, although the size was a bit small (around 10-15ml).

After Lagavulin, we drove to Ardbeg for lunch. We had a nice meal and a coffee at the cafè inside the distillery, as the cart in the courtyard was closed. We also got some of their limited releases drams: some very tasty, a pity the bottles were a bit overpriced.

  • Ardbeg…but just for lunch.

Finally, at that point we had to complete the Kildalton distilleries: so we stopped at Laphroaig, not to get the free coffee (although Gianluigi was tempted). As he is in the Friends of Laphroaig club, he could get a free dram, which was extended to Teresa and Edo by the very nice staff (and offered in a sample bottle to Gianluigi). We also bought a tasting pack: 4x15ml samples from batches of Laphroaig 10 cask strength for only £15, a steal! It was a brief stop, and once left, we drove straight to the Port Ellen ferry terminal. The sail was uneventful, we took advantage of the upper lounge to get some rest.

Next up, a last detour before driving home… until then, slainte!

Lagavulin Classic Tour

Price: £22.00 pp (July 2024)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting: welcome dram Lagavulin 16 (43%), plus 3 drams, Lagavulin 8 (48%), Distillers Edition (43%, PX cask finish), Feis Ile 2024 (heavily peated, refill ex-bourbon casks, 56.7%)

Distillery Exclusives: Distillery Exclusive (NAS, 53.5%, £110.00)

Target: whisky enthusiasts and casual drinkers

Value for money: good

Highlights: the pier

Recommended: yes, the best Diageo distillery tour so far

Link: https://www.malts.com/en-gb/distilleries/lagavulin

#46.4 The return of the smoke

The gentle side of the smoke: Bowmore

 

TL; DR: We visited a “classic” Islay distillery: Bowmore! Located in the centre of the namesake village, it’s very recognisable with its typical white buildings, directly facing the sea. The tour was extremely interesting, particularly the part around the malting floor, and it ended with two cask samples. What else?

(missed Part 3/Part 2/Part 1?)

Our plan for the day was a good one in principle, and we were looking forward to it: after returning on Islay from Jura, we’d visit Finlaggan (check!) and Caol Ila distillery (check!), then drive to Bowmore for a tour at the local distillery, get a shower at the leisure centre (interesting fact: it is built in a former Bowmore distillery warehouse, and the pool is heated by the distillery), a few drams at the Bowmore Hotel and dinner at Peatzeria.

The tour at Caol Ila went quite long, so we had to drive fast to our next destination. During the tour we got bad news from Justine: the showers in Bowmore’s leisure centre were broken, so no showers for us that day…unless we went for a shower outside (oh well). We knew that it probably meant no shower for the day. We parked the van just outside the village, on the sea front, a very nice spot. As we were late, we had just enough time to warm up some “beefy bake”, a couple of pies and a sausage roll we bought the day before at the shop on Jura. A bit rushed, but not bad (the mince pies were particularly tasty).

  • A bit rushed, but we got there!

The distillery was then 10 minutes away, and it is in front of Bowmore main square. At the check-in, the staff offered to keep Gianluigi’s backpack for the tour (nice of them!), and we had just enough time to peek at the shop: other than the regular expressions (Bowmore 12y, 15y, 18y, decently priced) and some travel retails, the only other expressions on sale were 20+ years old (and very pricey). We didn’t have to wait long though, because our guide Margaret (25 years in the job!) gathered us and the others (mostly a group of American tourists) to start the tour.

In the courtyard, she told us that the distillery is the oldest on Islay (and one of the oldest in Scotland), dating back to 1779. Similarly to Laphroaig (owned by the same company, formerly Beam Suntory, now just Suntory), they kept their malting floor, where they malt enough barley to cover 25% of their yearly 2.15 mlpa (million litres pure alcohol) production. They soak the barley for 26 hours, then they move it to one of the three malting floors with a chariot, 140kg at the time (100 times, for a total of 14 tons), and it stays there for 24 hours, after which they start turning it every 8 hours.

  • Man at work…
  • While the barley is resting.

The whole process takes between 5 and 7 days, depending on the season and the barley (in our understanding, the low carbon one germinates faster). The barley is then dried in the only remaining kiln, including 10 hours with peat smoke, to reach a phenol part per million (ppm) of around 25-30. Thanks to some improvements, they moved from using 15 tons of peat per week to only 3. The kiln is run for a total of 44 hours (including the previously mentioned 10), before the malt is finally milled. To note, all the peat is machine cut and, contrary to other distilleries, they’ve been using it for 40 years. Suntory also started a peat restoration project, to achieve a sustainable peat usage, but this we knew from our first visit to Glen Garioch in October 2021. While she explained the malting process, we followed Margaret in the building, also walking on the spread barley…the other attendants were eager to try a couple of runs with the rake, but we were all set (we remembered how hard it was from our visit at Dunphail).

  • One of the nicest mash rooms we saw.

Each mash comprises 6 tons of sourced malt and 2 tons of their own, and the grist is milled to the usual split 20/70/10% between husk, grit and flour. The malt is then transferred into a semi-leuter mashtun (for over five hours), where three runs of water are added at increasing temperatures to absorb as much sugar as possible, with the third one used as first water in the following mash. Their water source is the same as in the 1800s, although with recent improvements (which we don’t remember, sorry), they reduced consumption by 70%. Fermentation, kickstarted with solid yeast, takes place in one of the 7 washbacks and lasts about 70 hours. Finally, the fermented wash is distilled twice in one of the two pairs of stills, two 30,000-litre wash stills and two ~15,000 spirit stills. The spirit cut from the second distillation is between 74% and 61-60%abv.

  • The “classic” selfie.

After visiting production, we went to the mythical N°1 Vaults, one of the warehouses on site, where we had the first part of the tasting. Other available experiences are the N°1 Vaults warehouse tasting (£65), which doesn’t include a tour, and one that combines the tour and the warehouse tasting (£85), plus a few other very pricey ones. As we walked in, we saw two casks, a 2010 (13y) ex-bourbon barrel (54.3%) and a 2010 (again, 13y) sherry hogshead (53.6%). We had a dram from each, and they were both delicious. We got similar notes in the third dram, their core range 18y, very tasty despite the low abv (43%), which was served in the tasting bar. Nice touch, we could keep one of the two small glencairn glasses they’d given us in the warehouse.

  • Dramming in the N°1 Vaults

Justine joined us at the tasting bar, while we were almost finished with our dram. As we came out, Gianluigi tried to get into the leisure centre, on the fence whether to risk the outside showers…However, the centre was closed, despite being over one hour from the closing time indicated online (5.30pm). So, we decided to go back to the vans to drop some stuff, and then head towards the Bowmore Hotel bar, for a dram or two (it ended being one, prices were a bit high). It was finally time for dinner, which we’d booked at the local pizzeria: the PEATzeria! While the fritto misto we had as a starter was quite tasty, the pizzas were a bit disappointing: the topping choice was clearly aimed to American tourists, and the pizzas were a bit uncooked. Because we were hungry, and well, it was still pizza, we ate without making any fuss, maybe we were just unlucky.

After dinner we moved to the bar next door, the Lochside. Drams were better priced there, so we had a few, including some stunning like the Mac Talla Rum cask 2024 Feis Ile: delicious stuff! But the day had been a long one, so we soon walked back to the vans for the night.

Anyway, the tour at Bowmore was very good, and Margaret was a great host. Even if it’s not the cheaper among the basic tours on the island, because of the drams in the warehouse (plus the 18y), it was definitely worth every cent.

  • A couple of tasty drams…

The only “meh” note was not about the distillery, rather about the facilities on Islay. It is always incredible to realise how little there is and in which conditions (the public toilets in Port Ellen, Bowmore and Jura are quite old), in particular when thinking how much money whisky brings in. Other than the Bowmore leisure centre, the only other available shower was at the Port Charlotte community centre, but only after 2pm. On the contrary, in other trips we found all-day open showers: in Tobermory (Mull) they were open from 9 to 5pm (cash only), but in Carbost, in front of Talisker distillery, the toilets/showers are open 24/7, and you can access after a card payment (and we’ll have an even better story in the coming weeks!). We wonder why facilities like these are not on Islay. 

  • Not a bad day, not a bad day at all…

Stay tuned for our last distillery tour on Islay (for the moment)! Until then, slainte!

Bowmore Distillery Tour (with Cask Exclusive Tasting)

Price: £25.00 pp (July 2024)

Duration: 1hr 15min

Tasting: 3 drams, 2 samples from the cask, 2010 ex-bourbon barrel (54.3%) and 2010 ex-sherry hogshead (53.6%), Bowmore 18y (43%), and a complimentary mini glencairn

Distillery Exclusives: none

Target: whisky curious

Value for money: good

Highlights: the building and the cask samples

Recommended: pricier than other tours, but worth it

Link: https://www.bowmore.com/en

#46.3 The return of the smoke

Islay’s Juggernaut: Caol Ila

 

TL; DR: Back on Islay, we first visited Finlaggan, the site of the castle of the Lords of the Isles, in the middle of a loch: a charming place. We then drove to Caol Ila distillery for the first visit of the day. It’s the biggest on Islay, recently renovated, definitely worth visiting on a good day for the view from the tasting room.

(missed Part 2/Part 1?)

We rarely sleep past 8am in the campervan, but this was one of the rare occasions. A combination of cozy and nice temperature, and not too much light (also thanks to a truck protecting us from direct sunlight!). We felt well rested, and after a nip at the loos (public toilets were just on the other side of the very narrow street), we had breakfast. There wasn’t enough time to do anything else, so we jumped in the vans and managed to take the first available Caolin Ferry back to Islay.

Caol Ila distillery is very close to the Port Askaig pier, and we had over an hour before the tour. Instead of hanging around, together with Justine we decided to visit Finlaggan, less than 10 minutes up the road towards Bowmore, with the last bit on a single-track road.

  • Where the Lords of the Isles used to rule…Finlaggan

This is the historic seat of the Lords of the Isles, the ancient rulers of the area, before it was absorbed by the Scottish crown. It’s in the middle of Loch Finlaggan, just a few minutes walking from the visitor centre (still closed when we arrived). There used to be a castle/fortified house there, built over different centuries, but the ruins we can see today are from the 13th century. It’s a very beautiful and quiet place, definitely worth a visit if you have some time to spare. While we were visiting the site, the visitor centre opened, but we didn’t have time to check it out: it was time to go visit Caol Ila distillery.

  • Yes, we’re in the right place.

It took just a few minutes to drive back from Finlaggan, after which we left Mr Vantastic in the new parking lot, next to the electric vehicles’ charging points. From there, we walked on a very nice wooden footbridge to enter the new visitor centre, from which you get some very nice views of the production site and the Paps of Jura (to note, for accessibility you can drive closer to the building). The visitor centre is “carved” inside a warehouse, of which they sacrificed a portion for visitors. It’s clearly new, with a typical Diageo’s style shop, not as nice as the Lagavulin one, but fortunately without that airport duty-free look as Talisker’s. At the bottom of the shop, there is a very long bar, and behind it, the “tasting room”: a few tables in front of a very large glass window with a magnificent view. On that day, the sunshine definitely made the experience memorable!

  • Can you spot the striding man?

As we walked in, they offered us a welcome dram: a choice between the blended malt Johnny Walker Islay Origin (a blend of Lagavulin and Caol Ila) and the Caol Ila 14y Four Corners of Scotland (the expression they brought in, together with Cardhu, Glenkinchie and Clynelish ones, to celebrate the “Johnny Walker”-ification of these distilleries). A few minutes later, we gathered at the tour starting point with our guide. Our guide was very new to the job (apparently ours was their second tour ever), so it wasn’t the most informative of the experiences: oh well, everyone needs to start somewhere (and we complemented the info with the Malt Whisky Yearbook 2024)!

We started in a room one floor below the visitor centre with a nosing experience of some aromas (as far as we remember, peat, supposed-sweet, sea and maritime spice?). It was followed by an 8-minute video about the history of the distillery and the crucial role it plays in DCL/Diageo’s blends, accompanied by animations on a relief map, with wee boats moving from Islay to the mainland and back. There was also a very informative wall display, with the parallel histories of Caol Ila and Johnny Walker. Overall, we felt this introductory part was a bit too long (slightly over half an hour), to the point that Gianluigi started doubting that there’d be a tour of production!

  • The ‘Four Corners’ part of the tour.

It was included indeed: we went down the stairs, crossed a courtyard to the distillery building, walking past the usual Johnny Walker statue and the old visitor centre (a small office on the ground floor). First, we visited the mill room, where a Porteus mill has been grinding malted barley since 1979, when the distillery was rebuilt. The husk/grit/flour split in the grist is the usual 20/70/10%, and the grist is then moved to the full Leuter mashtun for a slow mashing process to obtain a clear wort. They are equipped with eight wooden washbacks and two stainless steel ones, where fermentation lasts around 55-60 hours. This space, where mashtun and washbcks are, is very clean and tidy and looks very similar to other Diageo distilleries, including a table where all the processes are showcased “in miniature”.

  • A tidy distillery.

The still room is quite spectacular, with six stills aligned next to the glass windows. Of course, three of them are wash stills, for the first distillation (with descending lyne arms) and three are spirit stills, with straight lyne arms for the second distillation. After this, we went back to the warehouse/visitor centre, and we visited a part of the warehouse that is half-way between the two: many casks are still lying there, but the space is mainly used for other visits or tastings. There, we got to smell a few different casks from the bunghole.

  • The only spot where we could take a pitcure of the still room.

Finally, it was time for the tasting, in the area the back of the bar. We knew the drill, 3x15ml drams, drivers package ready to be filled with a small funnel, and a cocktail (the alcohol-free version for Gianluigi was based on a smoky tea, quite interesting, while for the others the base was Johnny Walker Black Label 12y). We got there a bit late, so by the time the tour was supposed to end, the guide had just finished to introduce the drams (and in fact, they left us to sip on our own). We started with the Caol Ila 12y, the distillery flagship: there is a reason why this distillery is called “Mr Consistent”, as even this widely available expression (watered down to 43% and probably chill-filtered) is a nice one. The next two were the two expressions only available at the distillery: the Distillery Exclusive and the Bottle-your-own (see below for specs). Both yummy, as usual, although they were way too pricey for what they are.

  • Failed attempt at capturing both tasting and amazing view in the background.

Caol Ila is by far the biggest distillery on Islay, with 6.5 million of alcohol litre per annum production, and because of this it tends to be one of the go-to peated expressions for independent bottlers, at much more reasonable prices. As a confirmation, the last three Feis Ile bottlings (2022, 2023 and 2024) were available at the shop, literally gathering dust. For example, the 2024 expression is a 13y sold at £185 – who would buy it considering that indies Caol Ila’s of similar age sell for about half that price?

Once Teresa and Edo finished their drams, we had to leave very quickly, as we didn’t have all the time we thought we’d have before the next visit, and we needed to get lunch too! Anyway, it was nice to finally get to see Caol Ila: probably, among Diageo’s whiskies, it is the one we drank the most throughout the years. Also, this was the only Diageo distillery we hadn’t visited yet (among the ones open to the public, plus Mortlach, Linkwood, Dailuaine and Auchroisk) – a six-year journey since we started with Oban in 2018. Of course, Brora is still missing – do you think they’ll will allow us in with a discount since we visited all the other ones???

Coming next, another of Islay’s classic: Bowmore! Until then, slainte!

Caol Ila Flavour Journey Tour

Price: £21.00 pp (July 2024)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting: a welcome dram, choice between Johnny Walker 12y Islay Origin blended malt (42%) and Caol Ila 14y Four Corners of Scotland (53%), plus 3 drams at the end, Caol Ila 12y (43%), Distillery Exclusive (NAS, first and refill ex-bourbon and first fill re-charred California red wine, 57.4%) and Fill-your-own batch 2023/003 (10y, 1st fill ex-bourbon cask, 55.1%)

Distillery Exclusives: Distillery Exclusive Caol Ila (NAS, 47.4%, £100) and Fill-your-own batch 2023/003 (10y, 55.1%, £130)

Target: tourists and beginners

Value for money: good

Highlights: the tasting room facing the sound of Islay and Jura

Recommended: only if you’re really keen, but we think there are better options on the island for a standard tour (the view makes it worth though)

Link: https://www.malts.com/en-gb/distilleries/caol-Ila

#46.2 The return of the smoke

Off to Jura

 

TL; DR: After Port Ellen, we drove to Port Askaig to catch the Feolin ferry to Jura. Very different landscape here, except for the main settlement it feels very remote. The Jura distillery is tucked between the hill and the sea. Despite its not great reputation, we had some very good drams, and a great time overall.

(missed Part 1?)

The tour at Port Ellen overran slightly, about 10-15 minutes, which eroded the time we had to get to Port Askaig to catch the Feolin ferry and get to our next destination: the Isle of Jura. We sprinted in the vans, us first and Justine behind, and got there at the exact time it was scheduled to leave, just to see the ferry leaving…to our surprise, as it doesn’t happen often with Scottish and British public transport to be so on time. We were so close to make it that we joked about “Starsky and Hutch-ing” our way into the boat with a sprint, but it would have been a big ask to Mr. Vantastic. Oh well, the next ferry was only an hour later, still on time for our tour. We started fixing ourselves some food…but the ferry came back right away, and the staff decided for an extra trip (probably they needed it to accommodate two big lorries coming the other way). While Gianluigi drove on the ferry and then from the pier to Craighouse (the main settlement on the island), Teresa and Edo were holding the half-cooked food in the back (thankfully there are no pictures of this clumsy moment).

  • Spot the drammer.

The landscape looked different from Islay: more trees, less buildings, and the presence of the two Paps (the hills that can be seen from the north-eastern side of Islay) is certainly very notable. Fun fact, on the island there are more deer than people (nowadays about 250). Jura is also famous for being the place where Orwell wrote his masterpiece 1984.

Anyway, once in Craighouse, we parked the vans in a nice spot Justine had found, behind a multipurpose warehouse (including the Deer Island Rum distillery, closed unfortunately) and next to an old pier. A great spot, quiet and with some tables and benches too… just a shame that as soon as the wind calmed down, midges appeared to torment us. We just had time to walk to the Antlers Bistro for a coffee before going to Jura distillery for the tour.

  • And the tour begins.

The visitor centre is quite small, only a small entrance hall and a wee shop. Other than some merchandise and their full range of whiskies, they also have some special editions, a couple of distillery casks, bottlings, and the travel retail range. The guide for the day was Fiona, a local who has worked there for many years. She walked us through the shop and some offices to the courtyard, where she started introducing the distillery history, from its establishment (1810) to the first license (1831), and the troubled late 19th and early 20th century, when it closed. In 1960, the distillery was acquired by Charles Mackinlay & Co (of the famous Mackinley blend), rebuilt and extended, and in 1963 they restarted distilling. Since then, the distillery has never stopped producing (except for maintenance of course), not even during the whisky loch (when they just reduced production to 3 days per week).

  • Someone got distracted.

Their main malt supplier is Crisp, mainly Sassie and Lauriet, and they do heavily peated runs four weeks per year. The mill, a classic Porteous, was bought second hand in 1963, and never changed since. Their grist ratios are a bit different compared to others, with 15% flour, 25% husk and only 60% of grit. They do 28 5-ton mashes per week, working 24/7, and use the typical three waters at increasing temperatures (64.5, 75 and 85°C) in a semi-leuter mashtun. Each washback (six in total, all stainless steel) takes two full mashes, to which they add 150kg of Mauri yeast, left fermenting for about 60 hours. The two pairs of stills are heated by steam coils and used for a typical double distillation (7 hours the first one, 8 the second one), with a cut between 72% and 64% abv. Some casks are filled on site, usually the ones destined to stay in one of the four warehouses on the island (total capacity of 24,500 casks), while all the vatting and bottling (including re-racking for finishes) happens at Whyte and Mackay’s mainland sites in Invergordon and Grangemouth. To note, they recently demolished part of a warehouse to make space for a biomass boiler, so to decrease their environmental impact.

  • A glimpse of the still room.

After the tour, it was finally time for the tasting! A few words here: Jura whiskies, despite being best sellers in the UK, tend not to have the greatest reputation among whisky enthusiasts. Sales are probably driven by the notable number of expressions available at supermarkets (the Bourbon Cask, formerly known as “Journey”, the 10y, 12y, 14y Rye Cask, Seven Woods, Rum Cask, Red Wine Cask, Pale Ale Cask…have we forgotten any?), so well played to them. But quality-wise? Well, let’s say that in our opinion it’s not the best whisky you can find, not even for the money probably (when on sale, these expressions can be quite cheap). We had one bottle of Jura Journey a few years ago and tried very few independently bottled whiskies (maybe 2 or 3), so we were very curious to taste other expressions and didn’t really know what to expect. This is why, when we booked this tour, we went for the extended, fancier tasting.

A micro-warehouse for the tasting.

The tasting was set up in a dedicated warehouse-ish space (a damp room with a few dozen casks). Because we’d already parked for the night, we could all drink, yay! First dram, a 15y whisky finished for 1-2 years in oloroso sherry (42.8%), bottled for the south-east Asian market. Very sweet, a good start but not our thing (and the colour was suspiciously dark, which made sense given the target market). The second dram was definitely better, a travel retail 19y “The Paps” (45.6%), finished in a PX sherry butt (40 years old!). However, the third dram was the one where things started to get serious. It was a distillery cask, 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel, vintage 2016 (7.5y) and bottled at 60% – a very fruity dram, not too hot despite the high abv, and it took water very well too. The fourth dram was another distillery cask, same cask but a bit older (vintage 2008, 15y) at a slightly lower abv (55.5%), a very nice dram too. Finally, we had a choice between an unpeated 33y (distilled 1990, bottled in 2023) from a PX hogshead (44.8%), and an 18y heavily peated ex-bourbon barrel (distilled 2005, bottled 2023) at 53.7% – being four of us, we got two of each and we shared. They were both delicious in their own very different way.

  • A good line-up…
…with this one quite delicious.

After the distillery we went for dinner at the Jura Hotel. Our attempt to enjoy a pre-dinner pint outside lasted about 3 minutes, before the midges swarmed and made us run for a table inside. We had good time, good food, tasty pints and, worth noting, we found very clean bathrooms and strong Wi-Fi too! We soon retired to our campervans, to enjoy a last dram before a good night sleep (no wind this time!).

  • There are worse places to spend the night.

Overall, we loved the visit and the tasting, and Fiona was a great host, so money totally well spent. During the tasting we realised Jura can produce very tasty whisky, so probably the issue with their range is downstream. What is a bit strange, to us, is that all the supermarket expressions (all well below 46%, probably chill-filtered and with E15Oa too) seem to be aimed for the casual or novice drinker, none of them targets non-beginners. Other distilleries/brands (Glen Scotia, Loch Lomond, Laphroaig, Pultney, Tomatin, just to name a few) tend to target a wider range of drinkers, it’d be interesting to understand what drives Jura’s different approach.

Stay tuned for our time back on Islay! Until then, slainte!

Jura Distillery Exclusives Tour

Price: £50.00 pp (July 2024)

Duration: 2hr

Tasting: 5 drams, Jura 15 Sherry cask East Asia exclusive (42.8%); 19y The Paps travel retail (45.6%); Distillery cask 7y (60%); Distillery cask 15y (55.5%); choice between 33y ex-PX cask (44.8%) and 19y heavily peated ex-bourbon cask (53.7%), and a complimentary glencairn

Distillery Exclusives: Distillery cask ex-Bourbon 7y (60%, £90.00); Distillery cask ex-Bourbon 15y (55.5%, £120.00)

Target: whisky geeks

Value for money: good

Highlights: the island and the tasting

Recommended: if you want to try some good Jura’s, definitely!

Link: https://www.jurawhisky.com/en/

#46.1 The return of the smoke

The not-so-new guy on the block

 

TL; DR: More than two years after our first trip to Islay, we are finally back! This time, with Mr Vantastic and two special companions, we visited (almost) all the distilleries we didn’t manage the first time, starting with one that, 2 years ago, was still a building site: Port Ellen! A very beautiful site, with an experimental twist. 

It is not by coincidence that Islay is called the Queen of the Hebrides. There is something magical about this island, and it is not just the whisky. Maybe it has to do with the effort and the long trip to get there (well, unless you fly from Glasgow), that will take you through the west of Scotland and then, after a 2-hour ferry trip, finally on the island! But yeah, once you know, you know.

Our last trip, in spring 2022, was quite unfortunate: the rented campervan broke, so we had to book last-minute accommodations and cabs. During the only walk we did, it pished down rain, so we were also wet and smelly. But somehow, we managed to visit all the six distilleries we’d scheduled (Bunnahabhain, Ardnahoe, Kilchoman, Bruichladdich, Lagavulin and Laphroaig).

This trip was a long time coming, we would have liked to make it back in 2023,  but we couldn’t. Another idea was to go earlier this year  (2024, if you’re reading in the future) but the plan fell apart (well, we went to the stunning Raasay instead!). What finally made us take the step was the reopening of Port Ellen distillery. It originally opened in 1825, and the whisky was mainly used in blends. It was closed down by DCL (Distillery Company Ltd) during the whisky loch of the 80s, so together with many others, it didn’t make it to the new millennium. In the meantime, however, the whisky became a cult among single malt lovers, particularly the well-aged expressions (according to some experts, their malt was not well regarded at young ages, one of the reasons for closing it down). Therefore, similarly to Brora (and Rosebank, by Ian McLeod), Diageo decided to revive it: basically, it was rebuilt from scratch, near the Port Ellen maltings, to the west of Port Ellen village. It started production earlier this year. It is open to visitors, but with Diageo being Diageo, the tour is astonishingly priced at £200 (two-fricking-hundred)! Unlike Brora though (where the two available tours costed respectively £350 and £600 the first time we drove by, now -July ’24- changed to £225 and £900, ludicrous), they offer a once-a-month open day (first Friday or Saturday of the month), running several free tours per day: yay!

We took advantage of it as soon as we could, and we booked a spot for the July open day, for us and our friend Justine (Kask Whisky). Because it was on a Friday, we organised the whole weekend around it, with visits to other distilleries too. A couple of weeks after we’d booked everything, Edo (Gianluigi’s youngest brother) told us he wanted to come visit in July, so he joined us too. He likes whisky, and according to Gianluigi, he has the best palate of the family (he’s an exceptional cook!). So there we were, on a Thursday morning, ready for our trip: at first the two of us, Edo, and Mr Vantastic, on the road.

  • A sumptuous lunch.

Our ferry was booked for the evening, so we did a few stops in between: Fyne Ales brewery (always very tasty pints) and for lunch at Loch Fyne Oysters, pricey but the array of seafood we ate was exceptional! We also briefly stopped at the George Hotel, Inveraray, to say “hi” to our friend Ivan (and for Gianluigi and Edo to get a dram…Teresa was driving at that point). As we drove towards Kennacraig, the weather got worse, so much that they changed our destination, Port Askaig instead of Port Ellen (sad trombone sound). The wind was howling on Islay as well, but we drove straight to our parking for the night, while admiring some piles of peat drying out along the way. We parked our van next to Justine’s Post Dram Prat and had a small meal and a few drams (the Ardray, a new Suntory blended scotch, was the surprise of the evening), before slowly drifting to bed.

  • Calm after the (wind) storm…
  • …waiting for the tour.

Because of the wind, which was still blowing in the morning, we couldn’t get much sleep…especially Edo, who slept in the pop-up roof. We woke up early and had breakfast at the van with Justine. We were a tad slow, so before our visit we didn’t do anything except packing up the van, but we still arrived early at the distillery. Indeed, we were the first ones there, and at first everything looked closed. Fortunately, about 10 minutes before the tour starting time, someone opened the door and checked us in: for the first tour they were waiting for other 14 people, so 18 in total!

  • They finally opened the gate!

As everybody arrived, we started the tour with Allan, the distillery manager. He is very experienced, as he worked on all the four Diageo sites on the island (3 distilleries and the maltings), so we were quite excited. He started by showcasing the installations in the visitor centre hall. A note here: we call it “visitor centre”, but it is clearly different from what we are used to, even in comparison to other Diageo recently renovated distilleries. It is very modern looking and bright, and there is no shop (unless it is upstairs, where we didn’t go). The clear intention was to set up something classy…However, in a clumsy way, as to us it looked like a fancy residence or office lobby.

  • Modern art installation.

One great feature, instead, is their use of mostly renewable sources for energy. The distillery was (re)built with the intention of making it as carbon neutral as possible, which is very valuable. As we moved to production, Allan showed us their permanent lab, which is quite unique: here, a full-time analyst checks the peat levels in the barley and the spirit, thus serving both the distillery and the maltings.

We then took a look at the mill room, a very large space with a very modern mill, which we expected as the site has been totally rebuilt (so no Porteous here!). Back to the main production room, we were right in front of the mashtun: a stainless-steel big baby, semi-Leuter, with a shiny lid.

Look what’s mashing!

At the moment, they do 11 mashes per week, mainly with Concerto barley but really with “whatever comes in”, and they have no silent season (except for maintenance, when required). They do mashes of different sizes, one of 5.5 tons for the experimental stills, and one of 7.5 tons for the regular stills (more on that later). With less water runs per mash, this is one of the steps where they save on water, which is common to many Diageo distilleries nowadays. The process is like sparging when brewing beer, in our understanding, with only one water gradually heated up. The wort is then moved to one of the six Oregon pine washbacks, each one with a capacity of 52,000 litres, but they never reach these levels. Fermentation lasts between 92 to 130 hours, quite a long one. Allan allowed us to nose the wash, and if we wanted taste it, but none of our party did.

  • Fishing the wash.

Here is the interesting bit: the old stills that were in the distillery at the times of closing down in the 80s disappeared: they were sent to India and from there they lost track. So, the engineers at Diageo’s Abercrombie had to rely on drawings and sketches to recreate the new ones with the exact same shape. With these stills, the process is the usual: they run a double distillation, with the second cut taken after 25-30 minutes of foreshots, from 72-73% down to 60% (a large one!). The spirit is filled in both tankers and casks on site, usually diluted at 63.5%. However, they also have a second pair of stills, similar but smaller, that they use to experiment. The most interesting part is that instead of having the usual 3-part second distillation (foreshots or head, middle cut or heart, and low wines or tail; the first and last discarded and usually redistilled), the safe can separate out up to 10 different cuts, other than the discarded parts. These don’t get mixed together, and they are used to study and experiment how different cuts provide different flavours to the whisky, and in particular how this relates to the whisky peatiness and smokiness. We got to nose samples, and (maybe the power of suggestion) the difference was definitely there, in particular when comparing the first sample to the last.

  • Traditional spirit safe on one side…
…and experimental spirit safe on the other side.

After this, the tour ended. In general, the distillery manager giving the tour, and in particular the last bit, made the visit really worth it, even if we didn’t manage to try any sample (which we kind of expected). Overall, it was great to see this very beautiful new old distillery…We’d say we’re looking forward to the whisky in the coming years, but we know we’ll hardly be able to get it, if things stay the way they are now in terms of prices.

Stay tuned for more whisky action, and a little spoiler: we had to take another ferry! Until then, slainte!

Port Ellen Open Day

Price: free (open day, July 2024)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: nope

Distillery exclusive: none

Target: locals and whisky nerds

Value for money: well, it’s freeee…

Highlights: the beautiful new architecture and the experimental stills

Recommended: yes if it’s the open day

Link: https://www.malts.com/en-row/distilleries/port-ellen

#45.2 Stepping over the (Highland) line!

Back in the Lowlands

 

TL; DR: After Glengoyne distillery, we headed down back to the Lowlands. First Dumbarton, then Auchentoshan. We had a very in-depth tour, which was great, and we could appreciate every bit of their unique triple distillation process. Worth the money, just a shame the drams were basic. 

(missed Part 1?)

As we came out Glengoyne distillery, we definitely needed some food. Fortunately, we had a couple of sandwiches we got earlier at the Turnip the Beat cafe, quite delicious ones, which we devoured in the Glengoyne visitors parking lot (thus, already in the Lowlands). We soon left though, heading first towards Loch Lomond, and then south. We had a few hours to spare, so we went to Dumbarton, which we’d never visited before.

  • Distilleries in the past, houses today.

Dumbarton used to be home to the namesake grain distillery, and (on the same site) the Inverleven single malt distillery. Both distilleries started producing in 1938, Inverleven was then closed in 1991 and Dumbarton in 2002. Today there is a housing development on the site, which kept some of the red brick buildings. Other than that, the only remaining signs of this town whisky history are the massive warehouses on the road to Glasgow. We parked at the bottom of the Dumbarton Rock, a huge volcanic plug with a castle on top of it (you guessed it, the Dumbarton Castle). Unfortunately, the castle was closed due to illness (!!!), so we only took a short stroll in the garden below the rock, near the estuary of the river Leven, and then got a coffee and a light bite in town.

  • A pretty spot, a pity we couldn’t visit the castle.

The coffee break was longer than we thought, so we had to sprint to Auchentoshan distillery right away. We got there at the exact minute the tour was starting (although we’d called them to warn we could be late). Our guide was Anya, who started the tour with some history: the distillery was founded in 1817 (licensed in 1823), and the name means the “corner of the field”, referring to where the barley was initially harvested. As a matter of fact, there used to be a farm on site since the 1500s.

  • Just on time!

Moving to production, for the mashing they use 7 tons of barley sourced from the big maltsters (Baird, Simpson and Crisp), which goes into a semi-Lauter mashtun with the usual three waters at increasing temperature. Anya told us they’d just replaced a manual scale with an electronic one, but apparently the new scale needs recalibrating so often that the time savings are not substantial: not all trials go well, we guess. After mashing, the sugary wort is moved to one of the nine washbacks (four made of Oregon pine, five of stainless steel), for a 70h fermentation.

Semi-Lauter mashtun at work.

One of the peculiarities of Auchentoshan is their triple distillation, a practice that was once common in the Lowlands distilleries, but gradually disappeared. Now other distilleries we visited do some triple distilled runs at times (Benriach, Benromach, Sprinbgank/Hazelburn, Glengyle), but Auchentoshan remained the only one doing it regularly, before the very recent reopening of Rosebank distillery, in Falkirk. The wash still can hold 17,500 litres, the intermediate 8,200 litres and the spirit still 11,500 litres. Anya described the process well, but it was also good to have, right in front of the stills, a scheme describing everything in detail – it made it more intuitive. Being triple distilled, the spirit has a higher abv than usual: they take a cut between 82.6% and 80%, average 81%.

  • A really cool still room…
  • …with a really cool explainer.

After the still room, Anya walked us into the warehouse, where she explained the maturation process while letting us look at different cask types. Casking and blending don’t happen on site, but in Springburn, where the other Suntory facilities are located.

  • Always nice getting to see dampy warehouses.

Finally, we went back to the distillery for the tasting, in the same tasting room/bar where we had our tasting back in 2021, above the visitor centre entrance and shop. This time the tasting was not so good – we got a dram of the American Oak (40%, non-age statement, apparently mostly 6y, with some 5y, whisky) and of the 12y (40%), that is, the two most basic expressions. The wee mug they gave us to take home, instead of the usual gleincarn, was a very nice touch, though. We get that this was the entry level tour, but it wouldn’t have costed them much to replace the American Oak with another more ‘advanced’ expression: in the shop they have both Bartender’s Malt limited editions, batch 01 (47%) and 2 (50%), the Sauvignon Blanc cask finish (47%), the travel retail range and a couple of distillery exclusive bottlings (see below), so plenty of options (in theory). Fortunately, at the shop they gave us a wee taste of one of the distillery exclusives, a delicious 9y sherry matured whisky, from an Oloroso cask (59.7%).

Two drams and a wee mug.

At first, we were not sure whether it was a good idea to do the basic tour, but in the end Anya was a great host: very clear and precise when describing the production process of this very unique distillery, she really made our day, so we were happy that we’d decided to go for it. As we said, the dram selection could have been better (yes, in this respect we could have opted for a different ‘experience’), but this has nothing to do with the guide.

Stay tuned for more whisky action, some smoky stuff coming soon…Until then, slainte!

Auchentoshan Origin Tour

Price: £18.00 pp (June 2024)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: 2 drams, Auchentoshan American Oak (40%) and 12y (40%), plus a complimentary mini-mug

Distillery Exclusives: Auchentoshan hand-bottled  distillery 9y Oloroso cask (59.7%, distilled 22/10/14, bottled 1/6/24, £90/30 for 70/20cl) and 22y Oloroso cask (56.2%, distilled 15/10/02, £250 for 70cl)

Target: tourists and casual drinkers

Value for money: good

Highlights: the triple distillation process showcase

Recommended: yes

Link: https://www.auchentoshan.com/

#45.1 Stepping over the (Highland) line!

An old acquaintance, Glengoyne

 

TL; DR: We took advantage of a free weekend to get on the van and go for a night away in the (not so wild) wilderness. The next morning, we visited Glengoyne distillery: a very nice tour, although very basic, which ended in a lovely tasting room with some very tasty drams! 

In recent months we had been quite busy, for various reasons: friends visiting, visiting friends, unfortunately work as well… so, except for the Spirit of Speyside weekend, we’ve not enjoyed much our van. In early June though, we had a weekend with no commitments, so wedecided to spend a night out, not too far away, in the area between Stirling, Glasgow and the Trossachs. This area sits across the Highland Line (roughly, very roughly following the Highland Boundary Fault), which historically was used to separate the taxing regime of whisky producers in the Lowlands and Highlands: we basically spent the weekend crossing it back and forth!

We’re not new to the area: back in February, we’d spent a lovely evening in Fintry, together with our friend Justine, having a meal at the Fintry Inn, followed by a few nice drams from the Uncharted Whisky Co independent bottler, which has strong ties with the pub (in our understanding, it’s also their tasting room). This time, we aimed for another pub that welcomes campervans, the Pirn Inn in Balfron. The drive was uneventful, but when we got there, we realised they didn’t have a kitchen: d’oh! So, we had to go find food. First, we tried the Old Mill in Killearn, but it was super-busy (in part because of a beer fair they had on for the weekend). Moving on, second time charme: the Clachan Inn in Drymen. We were lucky: it was very busy, which surprised us, before realising it is on the West Highland Way, already swarmed with hikers this time of the year. They found us a table at the bar to be shared temporarily with a couple waiting for their table at the restaurant: we had a nice chat, and as the man was a dairy farmer, Gianluigi asked some questions about farms management and diseases…professional bias. After dinner, we quickly drove back to the Pirn Inn, where we had a last pint and a dram (Bunna 12 never disappoints!), before going to sleep.

An ugly glimpse of a much more beautiful spot.

In the morning, the sky was cloudy. We woke up rested, and we somehow managed to avoid midges invading the van, probably thanks to the previous night breeze. We tried to look for an open cafè, but we were unlucky… so after a stop for the loo, we drove towards our first destination: the Devil’s Pulpit. The Carnock Burn goes through a very beautiful gorge, all green and brown. You’d almost expect to find something like this in a tropical jungle, rather than in the Southern Highlands (or Lowlands?). The parking spot can only take three cars (if well parked), so we left Mr Vantastic at a bigger lay-by at the cross of the A809-B834 roads, from where we had to walk no more than 10-15 minutes to find ourselves at the top of the gorge. It was very nice, although we were slightly upset by the amount of garbage found all over the place: from the lay-by, to the side of the road, and in the gorge itself: how can people be so inconsiderate?

Back to the van, it was time to drive to our next destination: Glengoyne distillery (with a brief stop at the Turnip The Beet for tasty coffee and snacks). Glengoyne is an old acquaintance , as we visited it during the pandemic years (can we say that?) in summer 2021, but at the time we couldn’t tour production because of COVID19 of course…and the waterfall was empty too! Gianluigi had also visited it as part of a networking event after a conference he attended in Glasgow in 2018: too many people, it wasn’t such a memorable experience.

  • Looking at the Highlands from the Lowlands.

We parked on the south side of the road, which together with their warehouses, is in the Lowlands: the road is the boundary, apparently. Thus, as you can guess, the distillery is in the Highlands. It is owned by Ian McLeod’s Distillers, together with Tamdhu, the newly rebuilt Rosebank, and a the soon to-be-built Laggan Bay, on Islay (in our understanding they also have acquired a single malt distillery in India). As we came out the parking, a hostess pointed us to the check-in for the tour, which started a few minutes earlier in the courtyard. Our tour guide was Diane, “fae Glasgow”, and the other two people on the tour were a father-and-son couple from Canada.

In a small exposition room, Diane explained us that the distillery has always been Scottish owned since its foundation and licensing in 1833. It must be one of the few among the old ones, we reckon. Glengoyne means “the valley of the geese”, and it is located in Dumgoyne (“the hill of the geese”), hence why you can find this bird on the label.

We quickly moved to production, which is fairly standard. First, Diane showed us a destoner dating back to 1912 and the mill, which we couldn’t take a picture of. The barley varieties they use are mainly Sassy and Lauriet, although one week a year they use Golden Promise, all coming from the East of Scotland.

A shiny mashtun.

The mashtun has a copper lid, and it takes 16,000 litres of water at 63.5°C for the first water, followed by the usual two waters at higher temperatures to maximise the sugar absorption during mashing. Fermentation takes place in one of the six Douglas Fir wood washbacks and lasts about 56 hours, a rather short one. The newmake spirit is obtained after a usual double-distillation process, first in a wash still (16,000 litres), to get to ~20% abv (from their 8-9% wash) and then in one of the two spirit stills (5,000 litres each). Their cut points for the spirit run (what it is going into casks) are generally from 75% to 65%, and the cut is taken only after 3-5 minutes of foreshots.

  • Classic, onion-shaped stills.

After production, we visited Warehouse 1, next to the production building (not on the other side of the road): quite small, they mostly made a maturation exhibition out of it, where transparent bottles containing spirit and whisky at different stages of maturation are showed, together with the different types of casks and wood. A very interesting bit for more inexperienced visitors. Diane soon after walked us to the Manager’s Cottage, where there is a very nice and relaxing tasting space, with sofas, comfy chairs and fireplaces (they were off while we were there, otherwise we could have easily taken a nap).

  • Whisky maturation explainer in one shot.

The tasting was ready for us: 3 drams from the core range paired with one chocolate each, from the Highland Chocolatier. First off, the 12y, bottled at 43% and matured in a combination of first-fill European oak (ex-sherry we think…20% of the total), first fill American oak ex-bourbon (20%), and not better specified refill casks (60%). Quite nice and bright. The second dram was the 18y, again bottled at 43%, but with a different composition: less refill (50%) and ex-bourbon (15%) casks, and more first-fill European oak casks (35%). This brought definitely more dark-fruity notes and richness, although not as rich and decadent as the last dram. This was a 21y, fully matured in first-fill European oak casks.

  • Heading towards the Manager’s Cottage for…
  • …the tasting!

Overall the visit was nice, geared towards less whisky knowledgeable visitors though. The best part was the tasting – while we were a bit sceptical because of the low abv, these were delicious and not watery at all. A shame their prices are a bit higher than expected (in particular in the shop, and even taking into account the discount for visitors doing a tour or a tasting), which is probably the main reason we haven’t connected so much with this distillery so far. However, the velvety and soothing quality of these drams was not lost on us, and we think they are perfect to share with family and friends less used to higher strength drams than us. So who knows, maybe one coming in the future?

Stay tuned for the rest of our trip, this time definitely below the Highland line! Until then, slainte!

Glengoyne Collection Tour and Tasting

Price: £35.00 pp (June 2024, plus £3.50 booking fee per transaction)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting:3 drams, Glengoyne 12 (43%), Glengoyne 18 (43%) and Glengoyne 21 (43%)

Highlights: the tasting room

Distillery exclusive: Glengoyne Distillery Cask, ex-Port, 14y (56%, distilled 14/04/2010, £200…!)

Target: the whisky curious

Value for money: good

Recommended: yes

Link: https://www.glengoyne.com/