Mark Unsworth, regular reporter for this blog and excellent Islay photographer from Islay Studios, sent me the following text and beautiful images (below) from engineering works at Ardbeg. Looks like Bruichladdich is not the only one to be working on the distillery installation. Pay attention to the beautiful blue sky in the image, Islay had a cracking day!

Mark: Following on from the activity at Bruichladdich, Ardbeg are having some engineering work done. The old tractor shed has been excavated out and re floored with new lighting to be installed. Today saw three bottling vats being installed into the building, through the roof. Part of the roof was removed to facilitate this, then with a heavy lift crane and some precision driving the vats were lowered inside. There was just 50mm available free space either side of the vats to the roof supports, so clearance was rather tight. Fortunately the Islay weather helped with it being a dry and windless day so all three vats were installed in under four hours. Tomorrow (Weds) sees the replacement of the still house condensors followed by a couple of weeks of re joining a lot of pipe work!

Next image....

The Laddie Blog had some very interesting updates in the last weeks about the pot still that made a trip to the mainland for necessary repairs. Something I wrote about earlier when Mark Unsworth sent some beautiful images about these works. This pot still is a very special one, a veteran still you could call it, and it was a reason for Mark Reynier to send out a press release about this remarkable piece of distilling past and (now) present!

Mark Reynier: Islay's Bruichladdich distillery have re-installed Scotland's oldest pot still. Commissioned in 1880 for the Harvey Brothers' purpose-built Islay distillery it is, according to experts, likely to be the oldest pot still in use in Scotland at 130 years old. The life expectancy of most pot stills is only around forty years. After which, having eroded over the years with constant boiling, the copper becomes too thin and liable to collapse. But this venerable pot still, riveted in the Victorian way, was made with an exceptionally thick copper bottom to endure the intensity of a coal fire underneath it. Continue reading....

It's incredible what whisky can do to people, it can, occasionally, bring out the worst in people when they have to much of it but many more times it brings out the best in people. There are many whisky enthusiasts in the world and Islay sees thousands of them arriving on ferries and planes each year. People who appreciate and recognise the unique quality of an Islay dram and sometimes travel thousands of miles to see the island where their favorite dram is made and to meet the people who make it. It's like a sort of pilgrimage and the reason for many people to fall in love with the island and its people.

My acquintance with Islay started in a similar way so I know how it feels. I also know how sad you can feel when your pleasant stay on Islay is over and you head home. The first thing you are likely to do is to plan a return visit, now that makes you feel a lot better but how do you kill the time in between? One suggestion can be to visit one of the many Islay websites regularly or to create one yourself. And what if you haven't visited the island at all? No problem. Tim Puett who lives in the US never visited Islay (yet), but managed to create a fabulous website about Ardbeg. Tim classifies himself as an Ardnut, a nice find and very explainable when you read on. Tim is nuts about Ardbeg and he has the site to prove it. I found his site somewhere in June last year and I wanted to write about it ever since and somehow I kept postponing it. In the meanwhile his site has grown rapidly and it's time to tell you about his project, the Ardbeg Project. Continue reading.....

Mark Unsworth of Islay Studios was at Bruichladdich Distillery yesterday where works are in progress to repair and add an aditional still. And as we are used from Mark he included some very nice images too. Mark said: "They have removed part of the wall of the still house, this was to facilitate the removal of one of the stills which has gone away for repair. They are also using this opportunity to install an extra still to allow an increase in the product range. The repaired still is due back this week with the works finished in about a month. One of the images shows the cut out in the floor where the new still will be positioned, which is to the side of the stairs up to the tun room."

Last week Mark Reynier reported about these works on the Laddie Blog and wrote: "After 129 years this old war horse of a still is being removed. Usually, stills last for around 40 or 50 years - depending on use - as the copper becomes increasingly thin. Amazingly, this one has lasted around three times as long as one would expect. Could it be the oldest still in use in the business? Originally built to be direct coal fired, its base was particularly thickly constructed, with the copper plates riveted together as was the practice then. While repairs have occurred over the years we felt it could no longer be maintained as before and it would sadly have to go. It would have to go to Forsyth's, for welding and polishing work, before being reinstated at Bruichladdich to carry on distilling for, who knows, another century." Continue reading....

The Laddie Blog just published the following story which will interest and please whisky lovers and others from all over the world:

Jim McEwan wins Lifetime Achievement Award: The honour was presented at a ceremony held last week at Oran Mor in the West End of Glasgow. The award recognises the outstanding contribution by Jim to the single malt scotch whisky industry. Jim joined at the age of 15 as a cooper before moving on to distillation and becoming a brand ambassador, travelling extensively around the globe spreading the word. Jim's daughter Lynne collected the award on his behalf as Jim was er, travelling around the world.

Slainte Mhath

A couple of days ago we could read on the Bowmore1779 Twitter page that they had a succesful sale at Christies. Three bottles of Bowmore, Black, White and Gold, were auctioned for a staggering $21,600 at the famous auction house in New York. Earlier they sent out a press release in which they wrote: "With the winter season fast approaching, Christie’s is delighted to announce its November 14 sale of Fine Wines and Spirits, with a special selection of spirits that are sure to ward off the chill of cold days to come. Over 40 lots of carefully-curated whisky, bourbon, cognac, armagnac, and rum will be offered from prominent sources, including the Park Avenue Liquor Shop, one of the most respected spirits retailers in the country. In addition, Christie’s is honored to have been selected as the first U.S. sales site to offer the exceedingly rare 1964 Bowmore® Trilogy direct from the Bowmore distillery in Scotland." Continue reading.....

As a friend of Laphroaig you have probably received the same email from John Campbell as I did this afternoon. The email contained a link to the Laphroaig Live video which was held in Kentucky this year. For those of you who haven't received the email, here is a quote from John Campbell's email: "Well I'm back in Islay at the Distillery now doing my day job of running the distillery! I really hope the many thousands of you that watched the live webcast we did from Kentucky enjoyed it as much as I did - but I got to eat the food as well! The show was a little different this year so I hope you thought it was good. I'm told we had viewers from all over the World watching, including lots from Europe so any of you who had to stay up late to watch I really do appreciate it. Also a big thank you to all of you who sent in your questions, I'm sorry I couldn't answer all of them." The video can be seen from the following link or you can watch it below. Enjoy!

Tag: laphroaig whisky video

Early January I wrote about the stellar explosion, caused by the introduction of Ardbeg Supernova: "Ardbeg Supernova is peated to an astonishing level of over 100 parts per million, making it the peatiest Ardbeg ever. After the lightly peated pleasures of Blasda, Supernova is a stellar explosion of aroma and flavour – deep earthy peat oils, smoky coal tar, rolling tobacco, camomile, cedar and heather bloom. Hot, sizzling and gristy sensations effervesce on the tongue while pepper pops with chilli and chocolate. Heavenly!"

This heavenly sensation is picked up by Jim Murray. The award for Ardbeg Supernova comes with the publication of the seventh annual edition of whisky authority and writer Jim Murray’s, 'Whisky Bible'. A favourite with whisky aficionados, barmen and connoisseurs around the world Jim Murray has nosed and tasted nearly 1,000 new whiskies over the past year. The Jim Murray 'Whisky Bible 2010' contains more than 3,850 whisky tasting notes in all. Ardbeg Supernova received 97 points out of 100, an incredible score. This follows the success of the Distillery’s flagship expression Ardbeg Ten Years Old, and Ardbeg Uigeadail, which were named World Whisky of the Year in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Continue reading......