I can see these posts are starting to pile up. We haven't been able to make it to the WiFi hotspot the last few days. Our schedule has not lined up with the “cybercafe's.” Maybe things will be more internet friendly in Edinburgh.
Today was our last full day on Islay. We headed out to tour the two most northern distilleries on the island, Bunnahabhainn and Caol Ila. The weather looked a bit strange on our way north. By the time we got to Bunnahabhainn, which faces Jura and is further north than Port Askaig, the Paps of Jura where wearing cloud hats.
Even though the process of distilling is essentially the same at all the distilleries, it continues to be interesting to tour each individual distillery. Last night I read that Bunnahabhainn was not only the furtherest north distillery, but also the loneliest. Today I understand what that means. It is very isolated, built between the mountains and the sea. The location was chosen because there was a good water source present, not because it was convenient to anything. To get there you have to wind down a “road” with several switchbacks. Originally anything going to or leaving from the distillery was transported by the sea. The distillery uses a ship's helmsman as their mascot. Their connection to the sea is strong and permeates the entire atmosphere of the distillery.
The one thing that really struck me as we were touring the distillery is just how utilitarian the whole set up is. I know I've already mentioned being surprised that open tours where allowed in other distilleries, but in this one I was flabbergasted. The distillery is built like a ship, or to be more specific, a submarine. All the corridors seemed to be are narrow and floored with perforated steel. The steps are steep and super narrow, much more narrow than an average shoe. All the space it put to use, nothing is wasted. Anywhere they were able to run piping or install a piece of equipment they did. Their stills are enormous beasts which dominate a two story room. Unlike more distilleries, they are not lined up or organized into some recognizable pattern. Instead they are strewn about the room placed where ever they would fit. As tourist we're left to our own devices to figure out a path through the crammed room of running stills without accidentally touching one and scolding ourselves.
After showing us the stills the Bunnahabhainn did something that no other tour has done, they showed up their warehouses. Our tour guide told us that this part of the tour was technically illegal, because the excise people are afraid that members of the public will interfere with the barrels. Everything in the warehouse must be diligently measured and accounted for tax purposes. If they overfill a barrel and some whiskey falls to the ground, they have to report the volume of whiskey that was lost in the barreling process. The excise-men are paranoid that whiskey might walk away if things are not strictly accounted for. Our tour guide's take on it was that the barrels each weighed over 500 lbs and the thought she might be able to detect if we were trying to walk off with one.
It was really a treat just to be in the warehouse. All the whiskey distilleries reuse barrels from other types of alcohol. Many use bourbon, some use sherry or port, or even red wine casks. Being in an actual warehouse you get to see the random collection of barrels that are being used. Some are experiments, some are just different forms of conditioning, some are just whatever they could get their hands one when they were running low. These strange barrels may eventually become a special edition in a decade's time.
Another reason the warehouse was such a treat was just to smell the air and feel the atmosphere. The smell of a giant room full of damp wood and maturing whiskey mingling with the sea. Where barrels are aged is a bit of contention on Islay right now. Most distilleries will claim that barrels need to be filled and age on Islay for optimum flavor. The argument is if the location a whiskey is distilled at has any impact on it flavor then where it ages must doubly so. Coal Ila's parent company feels differently and ships most of its whiskey on a tanker truck off the island and barrels and ages it on the mainland. They claim there is not difference in the whiskey as long as it is aged in Scotland. Evidently whiskey doesn't care about local weather conditions but respects political boundaries.
Speaking of parent companies and bright ideas, a Bunnahabhainn vented to us about their special edition distillery reserve bottles. Every year there is a whiskey festival on Islay and every distillery creates a special edition for it. Basically that means they do something fun and/or special with one barrel which will create around 500 bottles of whiskey. They are the sort of thing that is unusual and normally sells out fast. These are also a point of pride for all of the distilleries. The Bunnahabhainn employees selected a special barrel and hand bottled and labeled all the bottles. Their parent company over ruled their suggested pricing for the bottles and enforced a 200 pound price tag. The distillery was not happy about this turn of events. Now they can't move their distillery reserve bottles for this year. They're proud of it and no one gets to taste and no one will buy it because it's priced like it' a 35 year old bottle.
Man this is a long post. One last fun fact about Bunnahabhainn. They also are owned by the same company that owns Black Bottle. Before coming to Islay I had never heard of Black Bottle. It's a blended whiskey (so not as distinctive as a single malt) that combines all the whiskeys of Islay together (along with some grain spirits). The lady at Ardbeg told us that when locals want a cheaper dram they always buy Black Bottle because it supports the entire island. I thought that was pretty neat.
I had intended to talk about Caol Ila too. I was going to contrast it to Bunnahabhainn's distillery being that Caol Ila was leveled and rebuilt in the 70's so it is probably one of the most planned out distilleries that we've seen. It's still room is a giant glass room that looks out into the ocean. Here's a quick pic of it.
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