Islay Overview

I've put together an image map so you can see where all of the Islay distilleries lie and find all of my Islay distillery posts more easily.

ardbeg | lagavulin | laphroaig | bruichladdich | kilchoman | bowmore | caol ila | bunnahabhain | jura

This map was produced using
http://www.image-maps.com/

Image sourced from:
http://www.islayinfo.com/map.html

Farmhouse Whisky

If ever there was a whisky distillery to which the moniker "craft" could be applied, then this is it. Based on a working  farm in rural Islay near the glorious dunes of Machir Bay, Kilchoman is the newest of Islay's 8 distilleries and opened a mere 7 years ago.

 The approach is along the typical farmhouse bumpy track, but at the end of the road there's the tell-tale distillery roof shape. It is still a working farm however, which the cows, sheep and ponies in the field attest to. This comes in handy for the disposal of the draff (spent grain) from the mashing in of the wash (unhopped beer). The lees of the stills are also spread on the fields as fertiliser.

We had another appointment that day; so did not have time for the full tour, instead opting to stop for lunch and a quick poke around. My first taste of cullen skink was great, as was the amount of filling in the paninis. (Didn't take any pics...too hungry!).

A good proportion of the barley used in the whisky is grown locally and in part floor malted at the distillery. The water from a nearby burn. The distillery has a single wash still and spirits still; so its very small-scale in proportion to everyone else on the island.

I get a chance to chat with the stillman as he prepares to switch the spirit safe from middles to feints and am offered a taste of the new make. Its a lot sweeter than the finished product and the high ABV means it evaporates straight off the tongue leaving the ghost of peat, some smoke and apricots. Its interesting to compare this to the alcohol at the start of the run, which noticeably still has some higher alcohols present. This all gets mixed together before cask filling.

The casks are all stored and aged on the premises in a racked warehouse. There's no mistaking which distillery its from with the distinctive bright blue barrel ends. They're mostly bourbon casks but there's some sherry wood in there too which is mostly used for finishing the whisky. Being so young its only recently that the distillery has been able to release spirit as malt whisky and will be another 6 years or so until they have a 12 y/o ready for sale.

The distillery has recently released its newest expression...Machir Bay. It " is a vatting of 3, 4 and 5 year old, matured in fresh bourbon barrels and finished in oloroso sherry butts for 8 weeks, 46% ABV." I bought a miniature of this to try at home, here are my thoughts:

Pouring the palest shade of straw, the alcohol and peat content is immediately apparent, this is a beast. In the mouth is smoke and a touch of phenol, but not overpoweringly so. That higher ABV begins to evaporate before the swallow leaving a sweet finish as the whisky warms down your  into your belly. There's no sign of the promised tropical fruit...yet. But add a wee drop water and it opens up completely. The proteins (still in the drink as this hasn't been chill-filtered) swirl around in a vortex and juicy pineapple comes to the fore. The burn is taken off the alcohol, but it still warms the throat all the way down. There's some tar, aromatic pipe-smoke and a hint of apricot at the end, with a lingering finish. Its a complex wee beastie and I can't wait to try the older variants as they become available.

7 Distilleries, 7 Days

www.islayinfo.com/islay_whisky_distilleries

Well it was actually 8 distilleries in four days, but that doesn't quite have the same ring to it. I've just returned from a wonderful week spent on the west coast of Scotland including a visit to the islands of Islay and Jura.

To be honest I never used to be a fan of any Islay whiskys (or so I thought) because to my palate they were all phenolic peat-bombs with not much other flavour. However through trying whisky-cask aged beers such as Brewdog's Paradox range and Black Isle's Black Islay I came to appreciate that perhaps I had been unfair to them. Indeed not all Islay whiskys are peated and Bruichladdich is now among my favourite malts.

This post is more of a summary of where I went to, a brief overview if you will and I plan to write more in depth pieces on those distilleries I toured.

On Easter Sunday my whisky week began in Oban. Unfortunately they were fully booked for tours. A disappointing start to the week exacerbated by the rain outside,

The order of the day on Tuesday was an early start and two ferries to get from the mainland to Jura. As a long time favourite tipple I was very much looking forward to this distillery and wasn't disappointed.

A ferry back to Islay brought us into Port Askaig, home of Caol Ila - unfortunately closed for rennovation until a week after-bad timing! Bunnahabhain further up the coast were on holiday too, so no visit there either I'm afraid.

Wednesday morning I awoke to find myself in Bowmore (planned) with the eponymous distillery but a stone's throw from our door. That afternoon also saw a tour of Bruichladdich and Kilchoman on the west of the island.

Thursday meant visits to the the south coast "peat monster" distilleries, Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg. Being within a few miles of each other it makes for a great walk, and the sea air certainly clears out the cobwebs!

Not a bad haul!

It wasn't just about the drinking however, I also learnt a lot more about the whisky making process, got to try wash (beer) and new make spirit and chat to like-minded people. I also returned acertain beer to its spiritual home and shared it around with anyone interested. Further postings to come!

All in all a very whisky week, but beer didn't escape completely un-noticed with beverages supped from Ayr, Islay, Oban Bay, Isle of Mull and Fyne Ales. More on these and the whiskys later. I'd definitely recommend a visit to this area of Scotland because not only is it beautiful, so are the drinks.