I had been looking forward to today. While I like all the Islay distilleries, I've noticed a particular predilection for the ones along the Kildalton coast. Those are Ardbeg, Laphroaig, and Lagavulin. Today we visited and toured the later two.
Before arriving, I had read that if you only get to tour one distillery on the island, choose Bowmore or Laphroaig because the are the only two that still do some of their own malting. Unfortunately the Bowmore tour didn't work out for us...but we got to tour Laphroaig. And what a tour it was.
By malting, I mean that Laphroaig still seeps, germinates, turns, smokes, and dries it's own barley. At least some of it. I think they only malt about 20% of the barley they need. The remainder comes from the maltings at Port Ellen that also supplies the rest of the island. It should be noted that Port Ellen malts each distilleries barley to their individual specifications, so it's not like Laphroaig gains anything by doing it themselves. They mostly malt a percentage of their own to keep the full process of distilling alive at the distillery.
Our tour guide had worked at the distillery for some 25 or 30 years. He intimately knew everything that went on in the process. He started by showing us the malting floors.
This is where they spread out the barley once they soak it for awhile to trick it into thinking it's time to grow. They have to get the barley to start germinating because it starts to convert the starch in the grain into sugar, and they need the sugar to fuel the fermentation for the yeast. The trick is to control the germination and not let it get too far out of hand. If it goes to far they will basically end up with barley sod. To keep it from actually growing they keep turning the barley over every four hours. That's back breaking work. There are a few modern tools they use to help lighten the load, but it's still labor intensive (and the reason most distilleries just buy the grains pre-malted).
Once the barley has germinated they smoke it in peat smoke. They have to move the grains into another room situated over a peat fire and they let it smoke for about 13 hours. Our guide told us that the grains are still damp at this point and that helps them absorb the peat flavor. This step is one of the key factors that gives Islay Scotch's their distinctive flavors. Here's a pic of how dense the peat smoke is in the smoking room (this room smelled awesome).
Laphroaig also harvests it's own peat to burn to create smoke. The tour guide said that they preferred to throw damp peat on the fire because it smoked more, and the goal was to create smoke not heat. Again, another good smelling room.
After smoking, the barley is dried using warm air. That takes another 18 hours. After that, the rest of the tour was pretty similar to other tours we've been on, because once you have malted barley the process is pretty much the same. We got to taste the wort and the pot wash. This time instead of using our fingers we were provided with little tasting cups. To retain an element of excitement the vats were left open long enough to set off all the CO2 alarms (evidently the fermenting yeast was belching serious amounts CO2 into the room).
After the tour we got to retire to their swank lounge and taste a wee dram. Being that Dawn joined the Friends of Laphroaig club last year they presented her with a certificate and a small bottle of Laphroaig. Here she is relaxing in the lounge.
In the afternoon we toured Lagavulin. At first I was concerned the tour wasn't going to be very informative because our tour guide looked younger than us. It turns out that she knew a great deal about their distillery and was able to easily answer all the questions thrown at her. I was once again impressed with how open all the distilleries are on their tours. Especially in a distillery like Lagavulin that has evolved into a factory more than it was laid out and planned to be one. There are a lot of stairs, a lot of buttons out in the open, and a lot of tight unsupervised places to hang out in. This sort of access wouldn't fly in the US.
Here's a quick shot of their stills.
After the Lagavulin tour we headed towards Finalaggan to see the seat of power for the Lord of the Isles (circa 16th century). On the way there we passed the Islay Ale brewing company so I got to drop in and say high to them. Finalaggan is basically the remains of a town built on an island in a loch. It seems that everyone on Islay has some sort of castle ruins or stone circle in their backyards. Turning the corner and seeing something breath taking is kind of par for the course around here. This was no exception. Plus the whole place is very laid back about tourist. If you want to see something then tromp on out there and have a look around. The whole island seems to operate on the golden rule... do whatever you want as long as you aren't being an ass.
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