The magnificent distillery at Bowmore (pronounced bu-more'). The public pool is heated from efficiencies at the distillery.
Lucky timing on my part. A great tour on a workday and only four others on the tour.
A whisky fan could lose his head. The lobby at Bowmore.
Floor maltings, where barley is turned into malt.
Bowmore is one of only two Islay distilleries still doing some floor malting.
The barley must be turned every two hours, day and night, until it's ready for kilning.
Trust me, this is the inside of the kiln, where the malt is dried and peated.
The peat furnace and a nice big pile of peat.
Hot water tanks for the mash.
Grain bin above the mash tun.
The mash tun, where the starches of the malt are broken down into simple sugars.
The mash is raked constantly as the malt soaks in hot water.
Brewers would call these fermenters; distillers call them washbacks.
The washbacks are built of incredible pieces of clear “Oregon Pine”
Bowmore experimented with stainless steel washbacks and then reverted to wood.
Fermentation!
The most impressive and vigorous fermentation I've ever seen.
Tasting the beer. No hops, but plenty of peaty goodness.
Bowmore's stills. There are two wash stills (1st distillation) and two spirit stills (2nd distillation).
The wash stills.
Bowmore's spirit safe.
And finally, the barells which hold the whisky for 10 years or more.
My lovely dram of Bowmore.
Bruichladdich (pronounced, roughly, Brook-laddy)
Bruichladdich fell on hard times in the 1980s and was closed in 1993. It reopened under new owners in 2001.
The grist mill at Bruicladdich, where the malt is crushed prior to mashing.
The mash tun rake. Bruichladdich had just started a long Easter weekend, and no distillation was running.
A wash still, where the first distillation occurs.
A spirit still (or “low wines still”) at Bruichladdich.
The spirit safe, through which the spirit passes during both distillations.
Barrels for aging.
The casking room at Bruichladdich.
Bruichladdich is finishing a number of their whiskies in wine casks.
A very small portion of the cask storage.
Bruichladdich is the only Islay distillery to bottle on the island. These tanks hold the whisky prior to bottling.
A brand-new bottling line.
Just drop this pallet off at my place, if you don't mind.
The crew hurries to bottle and package an order for shipment to Russia.
What can I say? It's a farm and there is a distillery. This is my only photo on premises but there are others of the countryside nearby in a folder yet to be created.
The approach to Laphroaig, the first of three distilleries progressing north from Port Ellen.
Laphroaig
As a “friend of Laphroaig” I qualify for a miniature and a free dram.
Or perhaps that was two drams?
Lagavulin, next on the northern route.
Lagavulin's water source: crucial to whisky.
The water coming down from the hills above Lagavulin.
The road north from Lagavulin to Ardbeg.
Ardbeg. The third distillery above Port Ellen.
The classic Scottish pagoda roof over the old kilns.
Caol Ila distillery in the northeast of Islay, near Port Askaig.
Beautiful clear waters of the Sound of Islay. The island of Jura is a stone's throw off to the right.
The Paps of Jura, just across the Sound from Cao Isla.
Jura
Bunnahabhain (pronounced Bun-a-ha-ven), north of Cao Ila
Bad luck for me; the published tour times I had were off by 45 minutes and the last tour of the week was in process.
It was a long, twisting one-track drive to the distillery and no tour. But no complaints from me because it was glorious.
