Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Jura
Went on a wee trip over to Jura to kill some time waiting for the ferry to come to Port Askaig.
Beautiful island, scarily empty tho!
Port Askaig
Arrived at port Askaig on Tuesday afternoon. Ferry to Oban is cancelled as feared, so looks like we are heading back to Kennacraig tomorrow :(
Port Askaig is tiny. Consists of pub / hotel (pictured) and the ferry terminal. Pretty tho, with great views to Jura. We are camping for free in the hotel garden!
Ardbeg Uigeadail
----Tasted the whisky that big Jim rates as best in the world.
Great tasting but probably wasted on our under skilled palates.
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Caol Ila distillery
Caol ila 'distillery only' bottle
(distillery closed for Summer season, repair works etc. In the
producing season it operates 24 hours a day)
Still at bruichladdich
Bruichladdich islay festival 12 year old
Bruichladdich 'rocks'
Bruichladdich 'peat'
Bruichladdich 16 yr old + 16 yr old E
Bruichladdich Octamore ( peatyist whiskey in the world, 140 ppm!)
29th June - Debbies place, next to Bruichladdich distillery
Debbies got a dry sense of humour, but shes lovely really, and she'll make you a great coffee and send your bulky whiskey back to London for you (she has a post office) We had coffee here before hitting Bruichladdich.
Monday, 28 June 2010
28th June - Wild Camping on Loch Indaal
Wild Camping on Loch Indaal
We camped here on the road to Bruichladdich, our stop for the following day. Alex was concerned that a cow may fall and crush him while he slept, they were wandering around not too far away. We were fine.
Filling the Barrels
Filling the Barrels, Laphroaig As the spirt is put in the barrel. Its only whiskey after its matured in a barrel for a minumun of 3 years, this is also where most single malts pick up thier colour, and flavours for that matter. The barrel is crucial. Some are former Sherry casks, most are former bourbon casks, some are quarter casks, to in ceace surface area to liquid. But they are all formally 'somthing' casks.
Floor malting
Traditional barley malting proccess.Laphroaig whiskeys tasted:
Laphroaig 18 yr old
Laphroaig 10 yr old, original cask strength
Laphroaig quarter cask
28th June - Laphroaig Distillery
The Malt is delivered at Laphroaig, much of the barley that serves these first three is malted in a more industrial facility in Port Ellen up the road, Laphroaig still Malt 20% by hand, as much as anything to keep the tour interesting i think.
28th June - Ardbeg , customer experience
Ardbeg Distillery, customer experience
Ardbeg distillery has a gift shop to rival most, and a cafe! Theres alot of tat. many, many objects with thier branded mark, we subsequentley saw a few of the Ardbeg faithful on our travels, sporting jumpers or jackets with the celtic A in a circle, im glad to report the trip was purely businees for alex and I, we tried some splendid whiskeys and hopped back on our bikes.
Whiskey soap
Ardbeg blasda
Ardbeg corryvreckan
Ardbeg supernova (100 parts per million o peat , which is double what
they usually put in ardbeg)
Lagavulin tasting
Lagavulin 12 year old, cask strength
Lagavulin 16 year old.
Lagavulin 16yr distillers edition, pedro ximenez casks
Lagavulin (available at distillery only) 16yr old, aged in bourborn
then sherry then bouborn casks again, special edition.
(note. All before breakfast)
Monday 28th June - Lagavulin Distillery ,Islay
Lagavulin
The time was 9.30am, the tour guide was Ruth and our first taste on the island was good. After the tour we were left in a sitting room and instucted to 'take our time' with the whiskeys on the tray, so we consulted the bible, tasted and compared notes.
I think it was here that alex, lowering his glass, turns to me and says "you know im gonna have to disagree with jim on this one..."-i laughed,. We were just getting into the whiskey lingo at this stage: nose, balance, finish, citrus, smoke etc etc.
i later came back here and bought a ull bottle of the Distillery only, cask strength 2010 bottling, that they released for the festival this year. Its good stuff.
Sunday, 27 June 2010
27th june - Kintra Beach, Islay
Kintra Beach, Islay
Our first night on Islay, a stunning beach and a fresh wind off Laggan bay and the Atlantic Ocean beyond, we didnt realise what a blessing this was until later, mozzies cant operate in wind. Later on at other camp sites we found that they operated rather well.
27th June - The Ferry that eats you
Kennacraig, Kintyre peninsula, mainland
(Approximately 2 minutes after this shutter, and 3 minutes before boarding we experienced Scotlands finest, powershower, extreme, driving rain. It it hard to imagine sitting at your computer in the warm and dry but its is somthing that never happens in england in quite the same way, very wet)
Sunday 27th june - Leaving Arran
Leaving Arran
We left Arran having tasted two new whiskeys, met a very nice Vicar (whom we trusted to pay our camping fee),had a pretty good bike ride and camped in the same bay where the queen spent some of her honeymoon (oh yes!, granted her yacht was a tad more extravagent than our titchy one man tents)
Sunday 27th June - The Isle of Arran Distillery
The Isle of Arran Distillery
apparently you see golden eagles floating on the air currents up in the hills by the distillery.
we diidnt see any.
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Whisky number 1
Last night we tasted our first whisky. Arran amarone, a whisky produced in the distillery across the road from our camp site. We hope to visit today. Great tasting even though we were a bit sleep and food deprived to fully enjoy it.
The 12 apostles, Isle of Arran
Saturday 26th June - Isle of Arran
Twelve identical cottages called "The 12 apostles" built to house natives during 'the clearances' in the 18th/19th century. Its a slightly odd thing coming across terraced housing in the middle of nowhere it has to be said.
Saturday 26th June - the road to Lochranza
Alex Fiddles with the map, about 2 miles from the end of the day. We were having so much fun with our first day in the sunshine we ran out of island and arrived intoLochranza almost by surprise. Arran is a top island, a good road that hugs the coast all the way around. The whiskey however, is better on one of its more famous neighbours.
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