Way back in February I was enthusing about our planned trip to Islay. At the time we were told we would actually be there during the Whisky festival. It turned out that we missed it by a week. That wasn't a bad ploy as the distilleries still had the festival specials available without the crowds. I had meant to post to the blog every night while we were there but I am afraid good intentions went by the board in a malt induced haze. How does anyone manage to blog from Islay? So here I am a full fortnight after our return.
We had a tremendous time staying with Ronnie and Marie at the Monachs. There was a lot of catching up to do as they are old friends of my wife's parents. On the first night Ronnie whipped out a bottle of ten year old Jura, which he said was on special offer in the Coop! I recall it was a warming drink with a hint of butterscotch. For watering he had a bottle of peaty water from the burn near the house. I don't usually water my malt but using Ronnie's water was a completely different experience as it brought out the flavours magnificently.
During our stay we borrowed bicycles from Ronnie so that we didn't have to worry about who was driving when it came to sampling time. Hence the picture at the top of the page of Dot cycling past a local landmark. This picture was taken after our tour of the distillery so I must have been very controlled with the tastings. Maybe it was something to do with it being 11 o'clock in the morning. We did buy a couple of very interesting offerings from the shop, which I will say more about on another occasion.
On one of our trips we called in at the Islay Ales brewery. It is a great wee place and well worth a visit. The tour was reminiscent of home brewing on a big scale. As I write this I am actually drinking the strangest beer I think I have ever had, Bruichladdich Peat Ale. It has been brewed using the same peaty malt that Bruichladdich use for Octamore. At first taste it was a bit of a surprise but it is certainly growing on me. There is a strong medicinal taste which reminds me of Caol Ila. I have never had the chance to try Octamore to see if it carries through into that whisky. Unfortunately my chances of trying it are slim as we found out at Bruichladdich that the last batch is already fully sold although it is still in the barrels. The hop varieties used in the beer have matched up with the peat smoke flavours well to give a harmonious if strange result. As an aside, the other guests at the Monachs couldn't get over the fact that our brewery purchases were waiting in our room when we returned from our day's cycling. That's Islay for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment