Laddie at Le Mans 2010

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 15:48:08 +0000

Terminal Issue

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 10:20:27 +0000

A spot of bother at Kennacraig on Saturday has resulted in one of the Islay ferries being withdrawn from service for six weeks.

The Isle of Aran ferry, reversing in to position at the ferry terminal prior to unloading the passengers and vehicles, rammed the landing stage at speed and manged to lodge itself up the ramp. Engineers are assessing damage to the pier, which is not thought to be severe. But, I suppose, it could be quite useful if it required a little 'reconstruction' what with the arrival of the new over-large ferry next year.

A spokesman for the ferry company said early indications were that a mechanical fault was to blame.

I didn't know Calmac used Toyota engines.

Precarious work

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 16:22:46 +0000

Re-installing the 130 year old wash still in its rightful place is one thing - but raising it up three feet off the ground inside the still house into its exact operational position is another.

Trying to manoeuvre 6 tons of copper in both a vertical and horizontal plane, with barely two feet of room to spare, is not for the feint-hearted. The lyne arm and valve positions have to be lined up, supports carefully positioned, fork-lifts employed, mallets for coaxing the girders, as well as wrenches, winches and wedges.

It was tense stuff as, slowly and precisely - reminiscent of a cross between giant Meccano set and the building of the pyramids - the still was carefully edged in to place. Without bringing down the rest of the building.

Now, the base stone work upon which the still is to sit, is being built up underneath it. Then the iron supports can finally be removed.

The still base will not be lagged as before with an external jacket, but will be covered with a special heat reflective paint which we have experimented with on the two spirit stills. For the first time the true form of the wash still, that until now had been covered up, will be exposed.

Another Distillery Approves Minimum Pricing

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 12:32:13 +0000

BBC news reported yesterday that Edradour, the small, privately owned, Pitlochry distillery, has declared its position on the potential introduction of a minimum price of alcohol.

Edradour's owner, Andrew Symington, said: "We do not engage in irresponsible promotions and believe the industry is damaging itself when it does. On occasions you can buy bottles of alcohol in supermarkets for less than bottled water, and in some cases alcohol is sold for less than the actual cost of duty and VAT. It does not make any sense, or do the industry any good at all."

"We welcome the Scottish Government's initiative in trying to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol and hope that the Scottish Parliament passes sensible legislation on this soon. As Scotland's smallest distiller, Edradour is proud to join with Scotland's largest brewer, Tennent's, and with the Scottish Government and the medical community in support for minimum pricing."

Last week, drinks giant Tennent's announced that the plans could be "part of the solution" to Scotland's £3.56 billion problem with alcohol. The Society of Independent Brewers Scotland, which represents 30 independent breweries, were also in favour.

"part of the solution" is the key here. Neither a neo-puritanical clampdown nor pricing increase alone will sort this issue.

The rise in alcohol abuse seems to be inextricably linked to the fall in fortunes of the pub. As pub alcohol gets increasingly expensive, supermarket alcohol has fallen. Take alcohol consumption away from the controlled (and controllable) social environment of the public house - their whole original raison-d'être - and all social and personal responsibility is lost.

Scots, like many northern peoples, have always had a penchant for sociable drinking. Some claim it is a genetic affinity - at least the on/off switch may be - but he trouble today is it has become a substance abuse of choice - a route to oblivion - for the disenfranchised and disillusioned, seduced by powerful marketing, fed by greedy supermarkets, exploited by devious duty evasion, and pushed by colluding "Who? Me Guv?" producers.

Other tools are needed: a massive tightening up on advertising in line with the French and a ban on irresponsible promotion for a start. The levelling of the price playing field will not create a new breed of connoisseurs and appreciators of flavoursome beers and spirits overnight, but who knows, a few more may learn to savour the flavour.

Blair to Promote Ardbeg?

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 08:34:40 +0000

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, fresh from the Chilcott Enquiry on the Iraq war, is anticipated to become an adviser to LVMH.

Sources close to the French group, reported Reuters indicate that Blair, a friend of LVMH boss Bernard Arnault, was now free to pursue an ambassadorial role with LVMH.

Other commitments of the smooth-talking, former Labour party leader, include roles with the (somewhat un-socialist) merchant banks JPMorgan and Zurich Financial.

The luxury goods group LVMH stands for Louis Vuitton, Moet & Chandon and Hennessy. The French group also owns single malt brands Glenmorangie and Ardbeg.

With Blair's past form on introducing new products in to old regimes I would be slightly anxious at the collateral damage.

For Peat’s Sake

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:58:13 +0000

Courtesy of whiskyfun.com

Whisky Taster

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:21:15 +0000

James Graham’s new play The Whisky Taster is now on at the Bush theatre, London.

No, it is not based on Charlie - this guy knows what he is doing - and sounds more like Jim. Played by John Stahl, the whisky taster is a wild, hairy Scotsman in a "frighteningly short kilt" (OK, perhaps not Jim) who dispenses single malt "as if it were a sacrament." But he gives people a life lesson, as he forces them to stop and savour the flavour.

Reviewed in the FT, it says "Graham raises interesting questions about why people drink and considers the wisdom of slowing down to experience life."

Ugly Betty

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:51:45 +0000

In the still house, in place of the old ISR vat, we have installed Ugly Betty.

It took a bit of jiggery-pokery though this morning, despite all the best laid plans. Duncan's excellent team, as usual, had prepared the ground extremely well and in perfect time: a cunning set up of heavy weight lifting gear was installed, scaffolding erected, the side of the still house opened up, cranes in place. Everything was ready to go...

But she wouldn't fit; Ugly Betty was simply too fat - six inches too large.

And of course, Sod's Law, the opening could not be enlarged. She wouldn't go in upright, sideways, upside down or inside out. Duncan, never one to be beaten, had to improvise - and fast - which he is fortunately jolly good at doing: so he had her cut in two. By cutting along the line of the original weld the two halves could be manoeuvred in to place. Additionally, always a silver lining, it has allowed Duncan to re-weld her top half with a 90 degree turn to the original line up, thus allowing for a better installation and layout for her water works.

Ugly Betty, our fifth still, is now - finally - in place.

Floored

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:38:28 +0000

As any visitor to the still house will have noticed, the wooden floor has become quite ropey. The planks, drenched by regular washing down and desiccated by the constant heat generated by the stills, had shrunk. I rather liked them like that - they had a lot of character, even though one could see right through to the ground floor below. While still safe and secure, the opportunity existed with the wash still away and the ISR dismantled, to replace the old wooden floor with a new wooden one.

At the same time, extra cross supports and reinforcements have been installed to reduce the 'spring' in it that had existed for some time as the old planking protested at the number of visitors walking over it, for which it had never been designed.

The entry from the tun room to the still house has also been altered, one now enters at the same level as the tun room, before turning left on to a new, nautically-looking, poop deck, viewing platform. New, wider steps are being installed from the poop deck to the still house floor, and again down to the ground floor, which will be relocated adjacent to the original steps.

ISR and Feints Charger Away

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:49:21 +0000

In the right hand corner of the Bruichladdich still house are the ISR (the Intermediate Spirit Receiver) a large, black, wooden vessel, with above it in the rafters, another smaller wooden tank - the feints charger.

At last they were there. They have also been removed.

Both vessels were original 1881 vats and leaked like a sieve, requiring constant maintenance and repair. It was clear that they would have to be replaced with new vats. Or would they? For some time we had been by-passing the leaky ISR, sending the new spirit directly to the spirit receiver in the adjacent cask-filling building.

The feints charger was located high in the still house building in order to feed the stills by gravity, thus preventing the threat of over-filling and consequently damaging the stills that could occur if unfettered pumping of the feints was used. Now, this too could be by-passed - filling the stills directly from the ground floor feints receiver by employing a fancy measured pumping system to limit the flow and fix the precise volume.

So what to put in its place?...

For VAT it’s Worth

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:32:46 +0000

Other works that have been going on in the still house include the removal of the old pot ale vat.

This large steel tank occupied the left-hand corner of the still house. It had become redundant, its role being taken by another vat installed in a more accessible area outside the mash house. In its place a viewing platform is being built to provide visitors to Bruichladdich with a bird's eye view of the still house

Still Life

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:17:41 +0000

Today we see the reinstallation of our 129 year old wash still.

It has been away on a little holiday of convalescence to Speyside, care of Forsyths, and is now as good as new and ready to rock and roll.

The wash still was originally designed by the Harveys to be heated by direct contact with the intensity of a coal fire underneath, rather than internally by steam. Consequently, it has an extremely thick bottom to ensure a long life - but I bet the Harveys had no idea it would still be in use well in to its second century. Most stills are replaced after only a few decades, making this probably the oldest still in regular use.

In those days the coppersmiths relied on rivets rather than the welding of today. The remedial work was to strengthen the rivets holding the bottom of the still on to the body, and also the seams. Having been thoroughly tested and passed with flying colours, the still will continue to make Bruichladdich single malt whisky for some time to come.

Three cheers for good, solid, Victorian engineering

“Oh, God. Is this an April Fool?”

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:35:10 +0000

The Times recently set out to hoodwink a whisky expert with (un)expected results.

This sort of thing happens relatively regularly in the drinks industry where cynics like to puncture pompous reputations, but professional tasters usual smell the rat long before. In this case, in what the newspaper called a "piece of mischief-making", it set out to prove that a whisky expert with 30 years of experience would rate an English whisky higher than a Scottish dram.

The wheeze was inspired by the recent release of St Georges single malt, the newly released English spirit.

The irregualar tasting, organised by the mischievous hacks, achieved its goal of ridiculing the poor old whisky expert, but perhaps not in quite the way that they had originally expected. The winner of the taste-test ended up being not St George's but a Taiwanese whisky called Kavalan, a whisky that is, nudge, nudge, not actually available in the UK.

It took a "working lunch" for the hacks to reach their conclusion. Each was “nosed, then eyeballed through Mr MacLean’s red-rimmed monocle" for its colour, and finally sipped, before scores out of ten were noted. Poor old Charlie headed the panel of "fellow experts" of Times hacks and also Geraldine Coates, a gin expert, Zubair Mohamed, a wine dealer, and Paul Laverty a screenwriter. McLean gasped when the winner was announced: "Oh, God. Is this an April fool?"

No, Charlie, it's Burns' Night.

The results of the 40%, mainly blended whiskies, were: Kavalan 27.5 , Langs 22 , King Robert 20, St Georges 15.5 (cask strength?). Three year old Bruichladdich X4+3 came last of the five, barely troubling the scorers. The quadruple-distilled single malt, bottled at 63.5%, and described by James May and Oz Clarke as a Nirvana dram, was here dismissed somewhat harshly by the "illustrious panel" as “sewing machine oil” that “burns your lips".

And your ears Charlie.

SWA Protect Scottish Authenticity

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:10:08 +0000

With thanks to WhiskyFun.com

Scotch and Welsh

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:27:19 +0000

Apart form whisky, the word Scotch has little to do with Scotland. The sense of the word meaning to put an end to something does not stem from puritanical or an ancient national negativity trait of the Scottish people, unlike the Welsh and to welsh/welch on a deal unfortunately seems to, but may come from Middle English scocchen meaning "to cut", from the Norman escocher “to notch” - hence to score, mark or cut lightly. A scotch/scatch may have been the notched stick (i use one myself) required to ensure a gate was sure to stay open. Hopscotch is a children's hopping game played on a grid marked out on the ground using a 'scatch'. To definitively prevent a cart from rolling away, it would be scotched, stones wedged or chocked behind the wheels. By the latter part of the nineteenth century scotch was being used to mean decisively putting an end to something — like a rumour or cart rolling away.