"If a whisky distillery was owned by whisky enthusiasts, like you and me, instead of big corporate entities, what would it be like?

Passion would govern our decisions, not economics. We would hire local workers who love whisky and also are experienced. We would treat them like family because, at the end of the day, they are.

We would use as many local ingredients as possible, mature our whisky locally, and bottle it locally. We would do this in an environmentally sound manner, because this is where we live and we know that some things are more important than whisky.

As a fellow whisky enthusiast, we know that you would love to make whisky too if you had the chance. So we would establish a whisky school at our distillery, allow you to come and make whisky with us to learn more about whisky.

Most importantly, we would make great whisky. It wouldn’t necessarily be a lot, but what we made we would be proud of. We would have a core range - without chill filtering naturally - but we would also bottle really exceptional casks of whisky as we came across them. We wouldn’t be afraid to experiment and take risks, because when you follow your passion, this is what you do.

Fortunately for all of us who love whisky, such a distillery already exists. It’s called Bruichladdich, and it’s our Distillery of the Year."

John Hansell, WhiskyFest New York, October 2003

Bruichladdich Distillery is proud to have been selected as Distillery of the Year 2003 by Malt Advocate Magazine.