Islay, Scotland

Ishga Baugh, the water of life. The Island of Islay, it may not be the birthplace of Whisky, but it sure is the best place for peated whisky. With a choice of many proud names still active on Islay such as Ardbeg, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Coal Ila, Kilchoman, Lagavulin, and my favourite, Laphroaig. There are a few new names joining the scene here, but there are plenty of names that are no longer in operation. On this trip we visited Laphroaig, Ardbeg and, Lagavulin, as well as doing a small hike in the afternoon.

Laphroaig Distillers Tour

Laphroaig was the first stop, and I had signed us up for the Distillers Wares Tour, while expensive at £70, with Dave at the helm, it’s worth the money. Online says it can only be booked in advance, but we managed to add an extra person once we had arrived.

The tour starts out at the malt house where they still do floor malting and explain how grain becomes malt. For those unaware, it’s the germination process of the grain, where enzymes become active and begin converting the starches into carbohydrates. From here it’s onto the kiln, and if you are in luck and willing to volunteer some labour you can shovel some peat for yourself; and knowing your sweat will fill a bottle in 10+ years. Then it’s onto fermentation, then to distillation. As a brewer the fermentation is fairly straight forward, the distilling was of more interest to me. The copper kettles are unique shapes to each distillery, and are usually kept in matching pairs when ordered, however Laphroaig have an additional single kettle, which is rather unique in itself.

At the end of the tour there are three barrels and a whisky thief for taking your own samples from. I had a spread of 14yo, 7yo PX and 11yo. Here you can sample the three and fill little 30ml (1 oz) sample bottles to take home as well as your choice of whisky for the 250ml (9oz) bottle. I did one bottle of the 18yo barrel strength and sacrilege, I blended my own concoction of 40% 18yo, 40% PX and 20% 10yo. Since I like my whisky with the sweetness of sherry casks, the smoothness of age, but I still liked some of what the 10yo brings to the table. I was happy, so that’s all the matters.

Whisky Mile

By now it was lunch time and Laphroaig is located along the whisky mile with Lagavulin and Ardbeg. Ardbeg was the only one of the three that had a restaurant, and I would strongly recommend including it as a stop in your itinerary, if only for the £2.50 pours of any, ANY, of their whiskys. I didn’t have time to do a tour here, so it was then off to Lagavulin. I was told that the tour here includes a dram of any whisky they produce, so it’s very good value to try the 25yo. But time was also short here as we intended to do a hike to American Monument while there was still day light.

Hiking Islay

American Monument was erected due to a tragic sinking of a passenger ship that had sailed from America off the coast of Islay during World War 2. To hike to the American Monument follow the Mull of Oa trail. It’s a pretty easy loop, with the straighter line of the trail having a wood platform over the peat bogs. From here you can choose to head back the same way or continue around. I’d recommend dressing for the weather and a bit extra. The day we did this hike an evil wind was coming up off the cliffs and made things very cold. This walk also allowed us to get up close to the famed Highland Coo (cow). I’d recommend this trail for the views along the coastline of Islay.

For more on our Scotland travels, or Whisky check out my blog.

Ishga Baugh!

August, 2017