The weather has turned here in Islay. Machir Bay was amazing this morning but a full day of gale force wind has taken its toll.
I’m in the Port Charlotte Hotel bar and my better half is listening to the cricket.
A good time to sum up on the distilleries I’ve visited. For my own benefit mainly, so no need to read on.
Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain are closed to visitors so focus was on the south and west of the Island.
I wanted to give Bowmore a chance but the nauseating Aston Martin tie in and seeing that even their top end “25” comes in at 43% convinced me that this was more a marketing operation than a serious Whisky business. Possibly an unfair assessment, I might look out for some independent bottlings.
Kilchoman was eye opening; nice people, plenty of free whisky to try and a great visitor space. I was stuck between the Madeira and Mezcal finished distillery bottlings. Plumped for the former, still dithering on the Mezcal. Plenty of new flavour and interest in it but £105 is a lot to spend on what might simply be a curiosity. I could go back en-route to the ferry tomorrow.
Wasn’t expecting to like Laphroaig as much as I did. Another great visitor reception, beautiful location and great weather helped. Interesting to have all of the cask strength 10s available. I plumped for the most recent “ batch 15” to take home.
Next up on the three distilleries walk was Lagavulin. Another beautiful location but poor reception facilities and a poor range on offer. Would have persevered but the people in front of me in the queue were arseholes. 10 mins of them trying to justify their
choice of cheap over dear was enough
On to Ardbeg; great people, perfect location, great “Still House” tasting. 12 year old Bourbon Cask at 56.8%, 10 year old Oloroso cask at 60.46% and Galileo Marsala cask 2012 at 49%. All fascinating to try in the old still house before moving on to the new one to taste some new made spirit at around 70%. A gust of Soreen dominated before my senses gave out.
I should be saying Ardbeg was a stand out. I knew and liked their product before I arrived and the tasting convinced me that they know how to make great whisky. What jarred was the marketing which just isn’t to my taste. You can go too far the other way, Lagavulin was just dry and dusty, but I’m 60 and the 50’s B movie shtick is before my time. It all feels a bit forced and half hearted. The product this great shouldn’t need so much help. The only distillery specific product was the Comittee 8 year old cask strength. I didn’t partake at the price asked
Finally Bruichladdich, the one that had the most work to do to win me over before I arrived. Could never understand the justification for Octomore prices and the rest of the range seemed to sit in the shadow of Octomore as a poor relation. That said I love their bog standard Port Charlotte 10. The Classic Laddie, whilst a bit of a chameleon, is occasionally delightful too.
Despite my prejudice I thoroughly enjoyed their warehouse tasting, all straight from the cask; Islay Barley 2004, Port Charlotte 2012, Octomore 8.2 2008. I managed to convince myself to save some of the latter for later. All were great dramms in their own right. Subsequent tasting in the shop convinced me of the charms of Islay Barley 2013 and a single cask Oloroso finish straight from the barrel enough for me to take them away too.
To be honest, if I won the lottery, I might go back to buy the whole shop.
