In which we walk, then drink whisky, then walk, then eat and drink whisky, then drink whisky, then walk. There may have been some whisky drunk later, but who can tell.

The picture below, by Kim Walker & Neil Galligan, commissioned by the Islay Community Action Group, depicts my favourite three mile stretch of road in the world. Have a look and see if you can guess why…

Starting at our B&B in Port Ellen, you travel 1.4 miles to Laphroaig, then 1.2 miles to Lagavulin, and finally 1.1 miles to Ardbeg. Two of my favourite distilleries and the third in my “I’ll drink it any time” category, all lined up nicely in a row.

In past years, the only safe option for travelling between the distilleries was car, along the narrow-ish two-way road. Of course, you could walk or bike, but consider the traffic. And where the drivers have probably been. Not dangerous, exactly, but you’d want to keep on your toes. Or over the nearest wall, in an emergency.

But within the past few years, the Three Distilleries Pathway was built for pedestrians and cyclists, running alongside the road. All three distilleries helped to fund it, and with that funding it’s recently been laid with nice new tarmac, so it’s a delight to travel along. Which was exactly our plan.

While on Islay, we wanted to do some walking. There are a lot of hiking trails around the island, so I’m hoping to dredge up my old OS (Ordinance Survey) map reading skills and navigate us around a few. But, for today, the plan’s as easy as can be: jump on the Three Distilleries Pathway and follow it. We have two appointments to make, the first at Laphroaig and the second at Ardbeg. We leave at about 9:30am, in plenty of time for our 10:30am Laphroaig tour.

Now, it’s worth mentioning at this point that we’re touring Laphroaig – which is the reason we’re on Islay at all this holiday – specifically at the wean’s request. And I wasn’t about to say no to that! Why, you may ask, did my 12 year old daughter insist on touring Laphroaig? Well, let me tell you.

Eleven years ago, Mija bought me a trip to Islay for my birthday. It was a family trip, with mum and dad, Mija and me, and, of course, our 15 month old daughter. On that trip, we did the Laphroaig distillery tour, at the end of which we were poured our free dram. The dram in question was, in fact, the Quarter Cask, which had just been launched a few months earlier. As you will likely know, Laphroaig is a tad on the peaty side. Tad, in this case, means “like chewing on a particularly tasty charcoal briquette.” So, when you pour 15 drams of this, it tends to permeate the room, and the whole place reeks of peat smoke. This did not escape the developing nasal senses of our 15 month old daughter, who was very insistent that we share with her whatever the hell was making that smell. Eventually, Mija dipped her finger in her dram and offered it to the wean, thinking it would quickly put an end to the incessant badgering. The wean tasted the drop, her eyes lit up, and she immediately started signing and saying “More More More!!” We all paused, blinked, then Mija gave her another drop. Same reaction. In fact, we got the same reaction for the next three or four drops. It turns out that our tour guide (John) had been watching this, walked over, and, with a huge smile on his face, asked us her name. We told him, not quite sure if we were in trouble or not, but he just turned around and wandered off. A few minutes later, he came back with a miniature bottle in hand, and a wee note on it saying “To C, not to be opened until you’re old enough.” He handed it to the wean and I swear to gods I teared up, proudest father in Scotland. Her first gifted bottle of whisky. Laphroaig. At fifteen months old. <sniff>

Fast forward some years, and this miniature is now a prized possession. But, of course, she has no recollection of the event. And she wants one. So she made me promise that, on the next family trip to Scotland, I would taker her on a tour of Laphroaig. And there was no way in hell that I was gonna say no to that! So, here we are, heading to Laphroaig, so that my wee lassie can have her tour.

The walk along the first mile of the pathway was beautiful, and hot. I have no bloody idea what’s going on with the weather, but it’s hot. The skies are clear, the sun is out, and it’s about 26C (79F). What the hell’s up with that? This is Scotland, for heaven’s sake, and an island off the coast in the North Atlantic at that. I want gray skies and rain, dammit! OK, fine, so the views are absolutely stunning, but still…

Anyway, we arrived at the distillery in plenty of time to grab some water, decide what we would likely buy in the shop after the tour, and then join our group.

TOUR DETAILS – COMING SOON

Loaded up with some nice drams, a bottle of the Caideas 15 year, and some other souvenirs, we headed out. Our next stop was a couple of miles further along the road: Ardbeg. The plan was to grab a lunch at the Old Kiln Café on site, then take the 3:00pm tour.

Once again, the walk was delightful, though a tad warm. The views continued to be stunning, and our group in good cheer. It was a little hard to blow straight past Lagavulin at the half-way point, but I’ve taken their basic tour twice, and the Warehouse Experience once, so didn’t feel it was a good use of our time this trip. The view back and over the top of Lagavulin from the top of the next hill, however, was another reminder of how beautiful Islay is.

I don’t know Ardbeg quite as well as the other distilleries on the island, having only ever driven out there the once… eleven years ago, to grab a quick bite to eat before taking the Laphroaig tour that started it all. But as we came over the last hill, the familiar sight of the pagoda towers told us that we had reached our destination. The sign that we encountered a couple hundred yards later helped.

We’d planned on a lighter lunch as breakfast had been a full Scottish: 2 rashers of bacon, 2 fried eggs, 2 sausage links, fried tomato, potato scone, and a slice of black pudding. But the walk had helped us build up an appetite, so we all ordered real food. The whisky offerings on the menu were very reasonably priced – £2.50 for a 25ml pour – so I was about to order one, when I saw their tasting flight of five for £15, complete with a five minute intro by a staff member. Turns out that this is not normally offered during lunch as they’re too busy to realistically spend that kind of time at all the tables that might be interested. But the place was pretty quiet, so they let me order it anyway. The flight arrived with the following five drams: Ardbeg 10 year, An Oa, Uigeadail, Corryvreckan, and Grooves. I don’t think I’d tried the An Oa yet, and the Grooves was just released for Feis Ile a few weeks ago, so a good line up. And the ability to try them all back-to-back was well worth it, as was the presentation. What I thought was really interesting was that the lady who gave me the quick run-down on the drams started off by describing the 10 year, their flagship, as “not everyone’s favourite, but it’s a solid base for the rest of the lineup” (paraphrasing). I also liked her description of the Uigeadail and Corryvreckan as complimentary to each other, especially in terms of food pairing. The Corryvreckan is a little more savory, so good with a meal comprising starter and main. The Uigedail is a little sweeter, so pairs better with a main and dessert. Having tested this theory with our food, I heartily agree.

Grooves is new, so worth making a little more note of. This is finished in charred red wine casks: the wood in these casks split or crack a little more than usual during the charring process, forming something that might be described as, oh, I don’t know, grooves? I found it the richest of the line-up, almost gliding across my tongue. Definite grass and wine on the nose, and just overall a very rich red wine texture. I’ll be snagging a bottle back in the US, if I can afford it; their annual festival release tends to be a tad pricey.

We finished our nosh, I finished my drams, and then it was tour time!

Hannah was going to be our tour guide for the day, and she did a delightful job. At first, she sounded a little wrote, but that may just have been to get going. During the tour, she was fielding somewhat odd and obscure questions (wasn’t me!) with consummate ease, and with a detailed understanding at a level that is not entirely common among distillery tour guides. We found out later, but more on that, you know, later.

TOUR DETAILS – COMING SOON

At the end of the tour, our group gathered around a picnic table in the courtyard while Hannah grabbed our drams. You got to choose your dram from the core range lineup (which I’d had with lunch), so I had some more An Oa. I got chatting with the gent next to me whose accent was similarly messed up. Turns out that he moved to Canada about 30 years ago, with occasional visits back, so pretty much the same as me in terms of barely recognizable dialect. While we were chatting, Hannah was engaging the wean (and Mija) in conversation, which I always really appreciate. I mean, she stands out a little, as a 12 year old girl on a distillery tour who’s showing interest AND who can nose the whiskies at the end and make decent tasting (well, nosing) comments.

I joined in and learned that Hannah just completed her Bachelor’s degree in Human Biology at Edinburgh University, and was back on the island for summer work at the distillery (where her mum also works). She’s hoping to spend a few more years on the mainland before eventually returning the island to settle down. This is apparently a common theme among Illeach (Islay natives) youngsters, because Islay is a great place to raise a family. I asked her if she planned to continue in the industry, to which the answer was an emphatic yes. She’d love to see a lab set up on the island, for monitoring all the things that are monitored by distilleries (e.g. barley quality, water quality, etc.) as opposed to sending everything to the mainland. She’s also got some ideas on trying to bring her subject matter expertise to the industry, and may have a contact that can help her: Dr Bill Lumsden, Master Distiller at both Glenmorangie and Ardbeg. Yup, she knows him and is apparently working on getting him to hire her in some capacity. Given my brief interaction with Hannah, her determinedness and enthusiasm, I think that that could be a pretty great partnership. I’m looking forward to keeping an eye open for Hannah in the future. Oh, and you’ll see why she was having no problems at all fielding questions on the chemical and biological aspects of the whisky making process 🙂

Alright, so, now it’s about 4:30pm. It’s still roasting hot, we have many drams inside us, and we’re knackered. Good thing we have a 3.4 mile walk ahead of us. Yeah, it was much slower going on the way back. My original plan had been Ardbeg first, then Laphroaig in the afternoon, but the AM Ardbeg tour had been full. I think this would have been the better approach, but what can you do.

We did break up the walk back by stopping in at Lagavulin, just to see what they had. What they had was their Feis Ile bottling sitting there, taunting me. But I resisted. All I planned to buy was the distillery pin, as I’ve started collecting from each one that I visit, and have to backfill a few. So I took the opportunity to ask what this year’s Feis Ile bottling had been. It had been an 18 year matured in refill American Oak Hogshead, rejuvenated American Oak Hogshead, and Bodega sherry European Oak. She was trying to describe it then just asked “Would you like to try a dram?” Um, yes! So I did. And then walked out with a bottle, which continued to taunt me, but in a much more smug and self-satisfied way.

We completed the walk back to town, freshened up a little at the B&B, then grabbed a very nice dinner at Sea Salt. On the way back to the B&B, we stopped in at the Coop to pick up some sun screen and after sun lotion because we were completely crisped. In Scotland. On an island. In the North Atlantic. Really. We got back to the house, I took a very cold shower, the ladies took baths, and then we went out like lights.