Islay's Spirited Soaps Company Opens Shop in Bowmore
Wednesday, November 21 2007
Ailsa Hayes, the proud owner of Islay's Spirited Soaps Company, opened her new shop in Bowmore's Main Street (Congratulations!!). Brian told me the shop looks and smells magnificent and is a welcome addition to the good shopping facilities already offered in Bowmore. Let's hope Ailsa will welcome many visitors in her new shop and if you're not able to visit Ailsa's shop in Bowmore you can also buy her products online at www.spiritedsoaps.co.uk, which is exactly in time for christmas. To find out what makes this soap so special there is some background information available below:
The Story of Spirited Soaps
Spirited Soaps started trading in December 2005. The idea was to produce a unique gift from the Whisky Isle which would have a wide ranging appeal. Many other Hebridean Isles have soap companies, nothing new there, but if there was a way to link with Islays world famous distilleries, then that would be something special. After months of experimentation in the kitchen, the first bar was produced using 10 year old Bruichladdich Single Malt. A transparent amber gem which resembled a solid dram! The Distillery was approached with the idea and was incredibly supportive of this innovative use for their Malt! The next trial batch was made using Ardbeg and again this was met with a very favourable response.
The next few weeks involved getting the process scalable and working out packaging. It was decided to keep the packaging as natural as possible so hessian and raffia were selected. This also fitted well with the rustic distillery image. The first five scent blends were also introduced – Fresh, Floral, Citrus, Spice and Earth. Mark Reynier of Bruichladdich Distillery mentioned that he loved the aroma from inside the whisky cask itself. The aged oak marinated in malt mixed with the smoky aroma of the charred spars. How do you capture such a scent? Well you have to shave the inside of the cask! The shavings are then cooked with the soap mixture. From this the jet black ‘Laddie Bar’ was born. The Laddie Bar captured the imagination and news of the unique soap made it to the national press and international whisky magazines.
Spirited Soaps is now manufacturing transparent whisky soap for Bunnahabhain, Kilchoman, Laphroaig, Isle of Jura as well as Ardbeg and Bruichladdich on Islay. Further a field – Benromach, Glen Moray, Dalmore and Tullibardine. They are stocked throughout the UK, Portugal and Germany and now available in our very own outlet in Bowmore!
How is the Soap Made?
Flash back to the High School Chemistry lab! Soap is formed when an acid and alkali are reacted. In this case the acids are fatty acids found in coconut, palm and castor oil and the alkali is sodium hydroxide (caustic soda). The fatty acids each contribute something special to the soap. The coconut oil is moisturising as well as providing a nice lather, the palm oil makes a nice hard bar and the castor is used for transparency. To make the soap the oils are melted and mixed with the caustic. The process is exothermic, meaning it produces its own heat to drive the reaction. It takes about 3 hours to neutralise the soap. The end of the reaction is signalled by a drop in process temperature. If we were making normal opaque soap, this is the point when we would scent it and pour into moulds. However, transparent Whisky Soap requires another step.
The challenge is to keep the soap crystals small enough that light can pass through them. To do this we have to dissolve the soap mixture in vegetable glycerin (Yes! We add more to the mixture – normal mass produced soap actually removes this as it is a valuable by-product of the soap making reaction. Glycerin attracts moisture to the skin so is a moisturiser in its own right) sugar solution, and of course, Islay Single Malt! The amber soapy liquid is then poured into moulds and scented. It is normally solid enough to remove after 6 hours. It then has a 2 week drying time to allow the alcohol to evaporate – no one actually wants to smell of a distillery! The bars are then cut, packaged and shipped out. The soap is made on site and we can currently produce 750 – 1000 bars at one time.
If you have any further questions you can contact Ailsa by phone at 07900-426327 or by email
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