Port Ellen is lovely. We took Jazz for a walk on the beach. The sand is white here which makes the water look tropically blue. Jazz was delighted to be able to have a good run around – something that she had been missing over the last few days.
We walked to Carraig Fhada Lightouse
and then round to a beach known as the Singing Sands.
On our way back we saw lots of school children on the beach playing games. It happened to be a school trip for the end of the year – how wonderful to be able to go to such a delightful place.
We decided it wa about time we went on a distillery tour. So we booked on one for Laphroaig in the afternoon. The information said it was a 20 minute walk – not too bad we thought. We did really well! Firstly took the wrong road and then when on the right track had to hurry. I don’t know who said 20 minutes as it took us a good half an hour to get there!
I hadn’t really been bothered about the tour but I was fascinated to learn how whiskey is made. First they soak the barley in water from a loch on Islay, then they lay it our on concrete floors for about 5 days to allow it to germinate.
They turn the barley every 4 hours night and day. They check to keep it at a constant temperature. Then they put it in a peat kiln where they smoke it. They use hand cut peat which they collect from the island. They use hand cut rather than machine cut as it is wetter and will smoke more (machine cutting compresses it and squeezes the water out). It is then dried and ground up. Then they put this wort in vast containers with liquid yeast and allow to ferment. This is then called a wash. To get the spirit they then have to distill it.
Once it has been distilled on a number of occasions to get the correct alcohol content. Then they put it in casks to mature for a number of years.
It was a very low key affair and really interesting. At the end we got to try some 51.6% - representing the year 2016. It was very smokey and tasted of peat – not surprising as it is smoked using peat as a fire. Not to my taste and did not convert me to a whiskey drinker!
Very good value – only £6 per person for the tour and for that you got the tour (lasting more than 1 hour) as many tastes of whiskey you wanted and a glass!
Just had to add a picture of this lovely war memorial
- love the stones that I presume have been decorated by school children
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