The Whisky Guy Blog

I’ve been in Port Charlotte for a few days, taking a break away from the cottage to enjoy some time socializing with locals I haven’t seen for awhile and with the influx of tourists that suddenly appeared this month.  A couple of days ago, I befriended a group of college students who are with a foreign exchange program at Glasgow University.  The group included Germans, Dutch and an American, and they were thankful that this stranger who has been on Islay for a few months could give them some tips about the island.

I joined the group on their last day here for a visit to Bruichladdich Distillery, which is just up the road, and a journey to Bowmore.  Mary and Caran in the Bruichladdich shop were kind enough to give us a special tour outside of their normal schedule, as we all had a bus to catch to Bowmore an hour later.  As always, the tour gave the students the chance to interact with the men and women of Bruichladdich in a very personal way.  In all my distillery visits to places like Laphroiag, Ardbeg, etc., the people involved in whisky making are friendly without exception and eager to answer questions they’re asked hundreds of times each year. Even though visitors may lack whisky knowledge, and perhaps lack a grasp of English, people here treat these strangers with kindness and respect.

Jim McEwan gives an impromptu whisky lesson.

Our little international group stopped in a warehouse where Jim McEwan and some of the warehouse boys were hard at work selecting casks for bottling.  Jim, who’s never met a crowd he didn’t want to entertain, dropped what he was doing and led the group on an eloquent journey through Bruichladdich’s philosophy and a tasting of one of the distillery’s many experimental spirits.  The college students - Florian, Irene, Erin, Jelle and another Florian - were unaware they were getting to experience for free what thousands of whisky enthusiasts around the world pay preciously for at whisky festivals: a chance to talk about whisky with Jim McEwan.  Irene, who had no interest in whisky before the tour, had developed both an interest in and a taste for whisky by the end.  Such is the magic of what happens when someone like Jim takes the time to interact with strangers.

Two local women, who’d stopped at Bruichladdich mini-mart graciously offered to give a ride to three of us, as that’s all the room the car had.  We sent along the two girls and one of the guys, while the remaining three guys stayed behind, trying to hitch another ride.  We had zero luck, as the few cars that passed us were filled with passengers or items.  A rescuer finally appeared in the form of the same two women who had helped our friends.  They’d returned several miles out of their way, as they couldn’t bear to have us suffering in the rain.

If there is anything I’ve learned in my years of travel and thousands of interviews I’ve conducted as a journalist, it’s that most of the problems in the world are caused by a few scared people.  The majority of folks are just trying to enjoy life and get along as best they can.  One morning in Islay made a difference in the lives of strangers from several countries.  Pretty impressive for a hunk of land peeking above the wild waves of the North Sea.

There is a wonderful piece about the people of Islay at Islay Info http://www.islayinfo.com/islay_people_ileach.html.  If you can’t make it here one day, at least check this out to see what you’re missing.  As always, thanks for the comments and the emails (rob.gard@whiskyguyrob.com).  I’m glad you are enjoying my whisky musings!

Friday night at the Ballygrant Inn can be a big night here on Islay.  I recently stepped out to join the locals at a fun “Quiz Night” trivia contest, thanks to the invitation of Adam and Grant from the Bruichladdich Distillery warehouse.  Joined by Joann who handles the data side of the warehouse operations and by Grant’s girlfriend, we were one of 14 teams who settled in for nearly four hours of trivia time.

Now, a pub trivia contest is in no way like Jeopardy or Eggheads.  Each round was separated by people going to the bar for more rounds of drinks.  A halfway point break included trays of sandwiches being passed out among players.  As a bonus, there was a raffle which raised money for a local organization while parceling out some great prizes.

I cleaned up on the raffle, with two of my five tickets winning me a box of candy and a bottle of Bowmore 12. 

As for our team, we finished a highly respectable second place, just two points out of first.  I was able to add some strength to questions about American actors and such, but was rendered mute when it came to U.K. advertising slogans.  Adam and Grant took charge of the football jersey identification round.  Joann rocked the cryptic rock band questions.  And we all chipped in to do extremely well in the James Bond theme song category. 

As a team, we won more candy, wine and whisky.  Between these spoils and other bottled items I’ve collected since arriving on Islay in January, I think I’ll have to leave all my clothes behind when I depart in order to make room for the beverages in my backpack.

There is more than just whisky on Islay, and that’s a good thing.  Last week, I took a stroll down a tree-lined lane to an unassuming courtyard.  The courtyard contains the renovated buildings from an estate’s farm.  Today, it houses a little gift shop, chocolate shop, tailor, art gallery and…brewery.  Yes, a brewery!

It’s smaller than my cottage at Persabus, but makes up for it with big, bitter, bold tastes of some wonderful brews.  Most Scottish beer is rather light for my palate, so it’s no surprise that the Islay Ales brewery www.islayales.com is run by two Englishmen, Paul and Paul, who transplanted themselves to Islay a few years ago.  The English are known for their bitter and hoppy beers.

Neither Paul nor Paul had any beer experience at all, aside from drinking it.  But, they knew what they liked, researched, talked with experts and did a little training.  The result is fantastic, with seven different brews to choose from.  Most of the beer is sold to tourists in several of the island’s pubs, as the natives tend to stick with their familiar canned beer.  It’s no different than most Americans drinking Miller or Bud rather than mircobrews.

So, if you make it to Islay and think that you want a little change of pace from all the wonderful whisky, know that you have some options! 

Forgive the delay in my latest post.  I am back to intermittent Internet access and can’t update as frequently as I’d like.  One of the blessings/curses of being where I am on the island.  It’s secluded and beautiful, but not much in the way of phone or Internet access.

My last day at Bruichladdich - for the time being - was a wonderful lesson in how to appreciate whisky given to me by Jim McEwan himself.  I spent the early part of the day taking a pretty difficult test.  He presented a “nosing kit” to me which contained 54 small vials.  Each vial had a distinct aroma to it.  My job was to identify the aromas.  It’s much harder than it sounds, especially as all the aromas started filling the room and blending together about halfway through my hour-long test.  Still, I managed to finish in the top ten percentile, according to Jim.  So, the size of my nose paid off.  And it helps to know that I’m not just making things up when I nose whisky or wine.  I actually know a thing or two.

We then spent part of the afternoon sampling some of Bruichladdich’s fantastic stores of casks.  Jim offered me Bruichladdich’s much-talked about X4 — a quadruple-distilled single malt that is 80 percent alcohol.  He told me everyone who tastes it can only say, “Wow” after their first exposure to it.  So, my first words after tasting it? “Wow.” And I couldn’t stop laughing while I repeated that word over and over.  But, there’s no other way to describe it.  Well, there was a way that the BBC’s James May described it, which is best heard rather than repeated (the Bruichladdich segment is near the end of the episode):  http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00h5vtj/Oz_and_James_Drink_to_Britain_Episode_3/

Jim also allowed me to sample some other Islay offerings from the cask, including a lovely 18-year-old Lagavulin that was the perfect warmer to a cold and windy day.

I’ll be returning to Bruichladdich on occassion to spend more time in the warehouse, which I just love.  But in the next couple of weeks, I will branch out to some other island distilleries and write about those.  Stay tuned, as well, for a couple of articles I’ll have appearing in some soon-to-be-named publications.

I’m going to take a break today from the descriptions of life behind the scenes at a distillery to chat about the most visible aspect of a distillery: the gift shop.  Seriously! Where is the first place you go to find out if you can tour a distillery?  Where is the last place you visit?  Uh-huh.  The gift shop. 

Bruichladdich’s gift shop is housed in an old warehouse that dates back well-over 100 years.  The shop is run by Mary McGregor, whose family helped build the distillery.  Mary is an Islay native, as are most of the distillery’s 60 employees, and her friendly smile is the invitation that tells first time visitors, “Hello! Come meet the Bruichladdich family!” and embraces return patrons with a heartfelt, “Welcome home!”

I really respect how Managing Director Mark Reynier, Production Director Jim McEwan and the other Bruichladdich decision makers put their team together when they resurrected the distillery a few years ago.  For the operations side, they brought back the men who had worked at the distillery when it was mothballed in the mid-1990s.  Their expertise was invaluable for the distillery to get off to a running start when it reopened. 

Management wisely went an extra step when they added to the team by recruiting people like Mary - and yes, recruit is the right word, as they selectively plucked people from around Islay to be part of their venture.  In doing so, they delivered to visitors employees who could be representatives of Bruichladdich as well as ambassadors of Islay.

In Mary’s case, she was working at the Museum of Islay Life down the road in Port Charlotte.  Her love of people, not to mention her wealth of knowledge about all things Islay, from the distant past to the dynamic present, was as integral to the external image of Bruichladdich as the right barley was to the internal operations.  So, she was lured away from the museum.

Even here, in what is perhaps the least likely time of year to visit Islay, with the rain, wind, snow, sleet, cold…you get the picture…Mary and her tour-guides-in-training, Julie and Caran, have greeted people from half a dozen different countries in the past two weeks.  They also have onlookers from around the world eyeing Web cams to watch them hard at work and emailing them with questions or with product orders.

At the end of tours here at Bruichladdich and other distilleries, visitors have the chance to sample the whiskies.  Perhaps the guests understand the whisky process better after the tour, and maybe they even appreciate the spirit in a new light.  But, it’s the big smiles and heartfelt goodbyes guests take home with them that proclaims they’ll always be part of the Bruichladdich family.

Well, my last post about having so much respect for and interest in the Bruichladdich warehouse sent out the cosmic message that said, “Rob needs to return!”  I started my second week at Bruichladdich this morning and Jim McEwan said the warehouse needed an extra hand, so back I went.

Today, it was primarily Grant and me working away in the warehouse, as Adam is in the mash house this week.  Alan, Andy and James were also in and out, helping with cask unloading and such, but it was Grant and Rob handling most of the activity.  We were drenched to the bone unloading casks in the cold Islay rain, which frequently shifted over to snow and then back again. 

We had finally managed to dry our clothes enough to be comfortable when we were doused again, this time with new spirit whisky.  I won’t get into the details of how this happened, but let’s just say if you’ve ever imagined of showering in whisky, talk to Grant. He did it today.  I had my own share of whisky wetness as well from that unexpected spurt.  The amount of whisky was actually minimal and it was quickly cleaned up according to procedure.  It was just one of those things that resulted in a good laugh and the realization that not all produced spirit makes it into the bottle. 

We made up for it, though, by filling dozens of casks with new spirit, which won’t see the light of day for several years.  I am fairly tired after pushing, pulling, loading and unloading numerous casks today.  But, I also have a deeper connection to the unheralded part of the whisky-making process - the filling and storing of casks.  There’s an incredible amount of work involved with those steps, and I have a continued deep respect for the people who shepherd whisky day-in and day-out.

A few days ago, I took a four mile walk from my cottage on Persabus Farm to the end of the coastal road on Islay’s northeastern shore.  The weather was unbeatable – no rain to soak me, no wind to knock me about and plenty of sunshine to give me stunning views of Jura’s snow-covered mountains and to bring out the brilliant blue of the North Sea.

The walk to Bunnahabhain gives incredible views of the North Sea and the Isle of Jura.

Along the solitary way, I was only passed by a fishing boat, heading out for the afternoon’s catch.  The boat slipped out of sight as my destination came into view: Bunnahabhain Distillery.  The visual transition was most appropriate, as Distillery Manager John MacLellan gave up a career as a fisherman and a life on the water to work in the world of whisky making the water of life.

Bunnahabhain is the Islay distillery I am least familiar with, so it made for an appropriate first stop.  The distillery is nestled in a little cove along the Sound of Islay, within shouting distance of the Isle of Jura on the other side.  If you jumped on a raft at the distillery’s dock and let the current take you, I don’t think you’d stop until you hit Santa’s icy beach – it’s just open water as far as the eye can see once you are through the sound.  The place is quiet, secluded and large – Bunnahabhain produced more than two million liters last year – but still intimate.

 I’d only had a couple of tastes of Bunnahabhain through the years – their standard 12-year-old and an independent bottling that was around 32-years old.  What I remembered from both was how faintly peated the malt was.  This is significant because Islay’s malts are known for being at the peak of single malt peatiness.

Bunnahabhain Distillery is home to Islay's lightest peated malt.

John told me the faint peatiness is intentional.  Bunnahabhain has served for many years as a primary malt in the Black Bottle blend, and as such is distilled to complement that blend and others (Cutty Sark, Famous Grouse), rather than stand out as a single malt.  It wasn’t until 1979 (the distillery was founded in 1881) that Bunnahabhain’s 12-year-old came on the market as a single malt.  In the past few years, they’ve added 18-year-old and 25-year-old bottlings. 

With only a 2ppm phenol count, the light peatiness allows Bunnahabhain to use primarily sherry casks in aging.  The spirit itself has the fruity flavor of apples and a citrus tinge of lime that seems drawn through cereal.  The result is a light, fruity flavor that has hints of grain, peat and is frosted with sherry nuttiness.  The sherry influence is richer in the older bottlings, in part due to more years spent in the cask, but also due to the inclusion of more first-fill sherry casks in older bottlings. 

MacLellan says the key to Bunnahabhain are the water, which is collected at the source in order to reduce the chance for the natural peatiness of Islay’s soil to infiltrate the water, and the mash cycle of the grain.  The distillery uses a significantly longer than typical mash cycle to maximize spirit yield from each batch of barley.  The longer cycle helps maintain spirit quality even when the quality of the grain is lesser due to a poor growing season.

Bunnahabhain was the first Islay distillery to make a special bottling for Islay’s hugely popular yearly whisky festival, and each bottle is signed by MacLellan and at least one other member of the 11 person workforce.  Fans that purchase the autographed bottles are getting a real prize of whisky-making history.  MacLellan has more than 30 years in the industry, and several other staffers have up to 40 years experience, mainly at Bunnahabhain.  It’s this consistency that is the hearth fire fueling the fine malt.

I was quite surprised by Bunnahabhain and their bottlings.  The 12-year-old is a great any time dram, and the 18-year-old is a wonderful winter drink or end of the day tipple.  In my minimal previous exposure, the malt didn’t make an impression one way or another.  Now that I’ve taken a serious look at the distillery and truly earned a taste (four miles walk for a dram!), I find Bunnahabhain is an unexpected delight.  It’s a nice bridge between Islay and the mainland malts.  Enjoy it if you get the chance!  www.bunnahabhain.com

After long last, I am comfortably at my new home for the foreseeable future: Islay, the Scottish island of the peated malts.  My arrival here brings my whisky experience full circle in some ways, as it was Fergus Hartley, formerly of Bowmore, who took the time to give me a personal tasting introduction to Scotch several years ago that drew me into this wonderful world.

Bowmore was the first distillery I stopped in after I arrived, and I enjoyed a fantastic distillery-only release that was reminiscent of holiday spices and aromas like pine, nutmeg and cinnamon.  I was there briefly, just stopping in to stay warm during a short visit to Bowmore for lunch and groceries.  I’ll get more details about the malt and post them after my next visit.

Currently, I am at the home of the renowned whisky writer/gourmet Martine Nouet.  Like several others who are passionate about whisky, Islay called to Martine for many visits and eventually a home.  With views of two distilleries and Ireland on a clear day, her place is a magnificent location for enjoying a dram, along with her wonderful cooking. 

I am finally settling into island life and over the course of the next couple of weeks look forward to visiting some of the distilleries, renewing old acquaintances and making new friends.  And, of course, tasting a wide range of malts to share with you.