FUN-travel: Islay, Scotland – Fèis Ìle – Day 3
June 15, 2017 by Susan Clarke
Got lucky again…
…boys from Sydney have car…
…for our morning tasting tour.
1st stop – Bruichladdich – 10 am
…only to find out…
…no tastings before 11…so on to…
2nd stop – Kilchoman – one of the smallest distilleries in Scotland…
…and the only independently owned one on Islay…
…one of only a handful still practicing floor malting…
…barley is also grown on the farm…
…making Kilchoman the only distillery to…
…complete all parts of the whisky making process on site.
3rd stop – back to Bruichladdich…for our tastings…
…and my big surprise as they also make…
…The Botanist…one of my favorite gins…
…22 hand-foraged local botanicals…
…delicately augment 9 berries, barks, seeds & peels…
…during an achingly slow distillation…
…and the first and only Islay Dry Gin.
4th stop – Bowmore …
…only a hop, skip & a jump…
…from where we are staying…
…oldest continual operating distillery founded in 1779…
…but rumor has it…
….they were making whisky long before that.
FUN-fact – Fèis Ìle runs 8 days and there are 8 distilleries. So each day one is the featured music & malt festival hot spot.
More FF – Bowmore’s famous round church was built “with no corners for the devil to hide in.”