Dramming on Islay
I have to admit it, I have been having an affair and it has been going on for years. Luckily, Howard is totally happy about it. That’s because my affair is with the west coast of Scotland. We have visited many places there over the years but until May 2024 we had never made it to Islay and Jura. The closest we got was sailing through the Sound of Islay in the early hours of the morning on a long sailing trip back from Norway to Bristol – but that’s a whole other story!
We were looking to spend a couple of weeks away in the UK and Howard suggested that we finally try and make it out to Islay. We planned to drive up to Troon, stay there a couple of days and then wend our way via various Calmac ferries to the ‘Whisky Isle’. We were, I must admit, taking a bit of a risk relying on Calmac who have been in the news for all the wrong reasons for the last couple of years what with new ferries not being delivered on time and routes being cancelled. All in all, it has been a frustrating time for many island communities to whom Calmac, their main artery to the mainland, has been severely in need of some successful open heart surgery. Our plan was in one day to:
- Get the ferry from Ardrossan to Arran.
- Drive to Lochranza and then take the little ferry across to Claonaig on the Kintyre peninsula.
- Two hours or so later to sail on the big ferry from Kennacraig on the Kintyre peninsula to Port Askaig (changed on the day to Port Ellen) on Islay.
Some locals were, I have to say, a little dubious about our plan but we kept everything crossed and miraculously all the ferries were on time. Even the change to Port Ellen helped us as we were staying at the Machrie which is far closer to Port Ellen than Port Askaig.
So we made it and what is more the weather also decided to give us a warm and sunny welcome. On our first day we sat having breakfast looking out across the golf course at the Machrie – a beautiful setting for a hotel breakfast I had to admit as I ate my kedgeree and gazed out across the golf course towards the sea watching skylarks wheeling overhead. After breakfast we headed out to make the most of the glorious sunshine and drove to Port Askaig to take the short trip across the Sound of Islay to Jura.
As we waited for the ferry, across the water was a beautiful technicolour panorama of the Paps of Jura. I do not think that even if we came here a hundred times that we would ever have such a great view of these majestic mountains. We weren’t planning any hikes up them but were content to just gaze on them and then drive round to the Jura distillery. We weren’t signed up for any tastings or distillery tours – that was for elsewhere – but just wanted to take in the surroundings, browse the small distillery shop and grab a couple of bottles to start off our whisky buying tour.
Back on Islay we had an hour or so to kill before our tasting at Bunnahabhain so what to do? Well, let’s see… No, it’s not that difficult is it? Caol Ila is pretty much on the way. Time then to have a quick visit to the largest whisky producer on the island, grab some lunch and buy another couple of bottles. That takes our total up to 4.
Wow, what a place to make whisky. It just matches the majesty of the drink itself. When you arrive at Bunnahabhain you are simply struck by how stunning the setting is with the Paps of Jura rising above the glistening waters of the Sound of Islay. Later, our guide at Bowmore will tell us that he thinks Bunnahabhain is up there with the most beautiful places on the island and he is not wrong.
Luckily I have made sure that I have one of the essentials on a visit to Islay – a chauffeur! Howard has kindly nominated himself as the designated driver so I can enjoy the whisky tasting in real time. He will have to make do with the driver take home pack to enjoy later. We are taken through several drams which I savour whilst wandering from our tasting table inside the shop to the outside terrace where I can take in that view properly and breathe in the fine sea air. Sadly I can’t remember the name of the lovely guy who guided us through the tasting (probably because of the whisky I drank!) but I clearly made a good impression on him. When I sounded suitably enthused and just ever so slightly knowledgeable and also was leaning towards buying a couple of more expensive select bottles, he supplied me with a couple more ‘freebie’ tastings including one of ‘New Aquaintance’, which I think comes in at about £700 per bottle. What a dram. It took all of my willpower not to buy a bottle although don’t think I was that restrained as I still came out with another three bottles all of which were, shall we say, not your bog standard supermarket priced 12 year olds. All in all, a glorious day with some glorious malts. The bottle count in the boot now stood at 7.
After enjoying an evening back at the Machrie with a wonderful sunset at dinner watching hares bound across the fairways, we had one more full day on Islay. In the morning we headed out to the Rhinns and drove all the way to Portnahaven where we saw a noisy group of grey seals lumbering along the rocks in the harbour. Then a very quick stop off at the RSPB reserve near Loch Gruinart although there were not really too many birds to see there as it is not geese time of year. Our afternoon was set up for a No 1 vaults tour and tasting session at Bowmore or ‘B’more’ as the locals like to call it. Our little multi national group – us, 3 Japanese, 2 Germans and a Dutchman (there’s a joke in there somewhere….) first had a look at the maltings where the Japanese were most enthusiastic in having a go at raking the barley and then tasting 3 different malts straight from the barrel, even getting a go at using the valinch, a kind of giant pipette, to draw out the whisky. These were special edition malts that as they say ‘you can’t get in the shops’, one from a bourbon barrel, one from a sherry cask and one from a wine cask. All lovely, although it was a bit frustrating that you could only get to taste them and take home a small sample of your favourite one as being not available in the shop meant any shop, including Bowmore itself. Still, one final tasting in the distillery bar and I had purchased another bottle taking our total up to 8.
On our final morning on Islay, we drove around the southern part of the island which I, and many others, agree to be the prettiest part with all the greenery and the little skerries poking up out of the sea. We drove past the famous three distilleries that you can see strung out like a row of pearls along the southern coast to the east of Port Ellen – Laphroig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg. These three are probably what most people associate with Islay whisky with all their peaty loveliness but all with their unique expression of that characterful smokiness. Whisky has been made on this island for so many years both illegally and legally with legal distilleries being around from the late 18th century onwards. Distilling on the island has had many ups and downs with distilleries coming and going as demand ebbed and flowed and those renowned island distilleries were subject to the whims of large conglomerates. We nearly lost Ardbeg really not that long ago but thankfully it is still there and the last few years have been a booming time for malt whisky. Twenty years ago they were down to 7 distilleries on Islay, now it is up to 9 with newcomers Kilchoman and Ardnahoe. The traditional practice of ‘dramming’, whereby free new make or cask strength whisky was given to distillery workers at regular intervals throughout the working day and night, may be gone now but the tradition of drinking that wonderful golden nectar is still with us on Islay and throughout the world.
PS Back on the mainland in Oban we looked at the 8 bottles of malt in the boot and thought…let’s make it a round 10. A stroll to Oban Whisky and Fine Wines and we chose bottles from two distilleries we hadn’t visited on Islay – Kilchoman and Bruidladdich. That makes 10 and plenty of research to happily undertake before our next visit to Islay one day!
