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The Distillery Inside

Bruichladdich Cask visit 2003

"Are you afraid of heights?" John, Bruichladdich warehouse manager, asks when I say that I’d like to accompany him as he gets the cask sample. “No” I answer, because I definitively do not want to miss this, but actually I’m quite afraid of heights.

We are four Swedes on an Islay Whisky trip, and since three of us are members of the Swedish Whisky Society “Beathas vänner” we have planned to visit the Bruichladdich cask the society owns, as well as the Port Charlotte cask that two of us are partial owners of.

Johns question proves justified; the cask we are looking for is stored on the top level of the racked warehouse on the hill behind the distillery. In the darkness of the warehouse large racks filled with casks rise on both sides of the corridor. The casks are not all Bruichladdich, there are some casks from other Islay distilleries. Bruichladdich seems to be the only distillery on the island with warehouse space left, and rents this out to distilleries in more pressing need. In the end of the corridor is a simple fork lift equipped with a small cage.

With three guests (the fourth had an important business call to attend to...tough luck) there is no room in the cage for John, he has to stand on the handles of the cage and steady himself against the racks during the wobbling ascent. At the 10 meter level we climb over the handles, dangle over edge and swing in between the barrels. There is a narrow gang-way of planks between the rows of casks, and after some searching our guides find the correct cask. It is an ex-Rum cask filled with one-year
old Bruichladdich spirit.

One of the warehouse men climbs up to the top of the cask, bows under the roof rafters, and unplugs the cask with an oversized cork screw. With a long copper tube, a Valinch, the sample bottle and a tasting dram is filled. Our immediate reaction is that this is strong, too strong. This is not very strange, Bruichladdich does not dilute the new-make down to the standardized 63.5%before filling it into casks, the 70 % spirits go direct into the casks. With some water the taste is better, but it is still rather raw. However, it tastes much better than new-make I have tasted from other distilleries.  It has reached a weak white-wine yellow color, but is far from the typical “golden” whisky color (and taste). We hope that the remaining nine years that are part of  the cask deal will be enough to mature this into something more pleasant.  The two-year-old sample from our Port Charlotte cask appears much more mature,  but the peat probably hides some of the unpleasant nuances.

In the same dunnage warehouse as our Port Charlotte cask we catch a glimpse of the ”world record” Octomore casks. The peating levels are maximized and have been measured to be 80.5 ppm, compared with the levels of 30-40 and up towards 50-60 that is usually mentioned for the other “peat-bombs” Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg. The local supplier, Port Ellen maltings, could not reach these levels, the malt is sourced from a main-land malting. We smell the Octomore new-make and the smell is intense and smoky. It is more wood fire and coal than peat and tar, and the dried malt is almost black. Spirit from Bruichladdichs tall and slender stills is clean and fruity, and I believe that Port Charlotte and Octomore will be more like the clean smokiness of Port Ellen and Caol Ila than the archetype Islay tar and peat of Lagavulin and Laphroaig. In 7-10 years we can hope that Octomore reach the market. Unfortunately no casks are for sale, but one can reserve a case of the first release for the humble price of £250…. plus tax and vat to pay on delivery… count me in.

A tour of Bruichladdich has one advantage over many other distillery tours, it’s free of charge.
However, having a young German (!) guide did spoil the romantic image of the Celtic heritage somewhat, and the low water level had prolonged the silent season so nothing was cooking at our visit. The new bottling hall was bottling the “full strength” and that was the most interesting part of the tour, apart from our cask visits.
A lot of effort on the tour is spent pushing the uniqueness of Islay bottling and using Islay spring water for reduction. Sweden was claimed to be the second largest market for Bruichladdich, second only by the USA.

The new shop (in the old floor maltings as so many other) had no less than three casks to choose from for the visitor keen to fill a bottle direct from a cask. It was fresh sherry, refill sherry and fresh bourbon of 1988-1990 vintage, with very differing characteristics. Apart from a wall filled with Bruichladdich whisky and clothing a number of Murray-McDavid bottlings was available, and a few café-tables to savour the after-the-tour dram.
However, I could not spot the water jug from Beathas vänner which was presented to the distillery at a visit 2 years earlier. But, we must have left some impression, suddenly Jim McEvan’s daughter Lynne appeared. She manned the bar at the last visit and recognized me….. must be spending something like £800 in the bar in one night….

HögLager - The racked ware house
JohnMedSample - John handing out a cask sample
Korksruv - The unplugging device & the roof rafters
MagnusMedSample - Magnus with sample in the racked ware house
MatsMedSample - Mats with sample in the racked ware house
MattiasFat Mattias (the author) with sample at the Port Charlotte cask
MickeValinch - Micke pulls his own "Babe" valinch
Octomore - Casks of Octomore
Photos by M Johannesson & M Gökstorp.

Sent in by Richard Alderton, Sheffield UK
Pictures taken during a distillery tour 7 Aug 2003

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