Bruichladdich Distillery was re-opened after seven years of closure. We would win Distillery of the Year for the first time, then again subsequently in 2003, 2006 and 2007.
We refurbished an old warehouse into an on-site bottling hall. From 2003, we’ve done all of our single malt bottlings on the island, with nothing exported to the Scottish Mainland. Today our bottling lines and supply chain functions employ 26 people full time.
Organic barley is first harvested and distilled. Barley would be traced from single farms at Mid Coull, Coulmore, Mains of Tullibardine and Pitgaveny Estate over the years. It is a staple in our production schedule to this day.
We ignited an Islay barley project with Raymond Stewart. He was the first of our farming partners to raise malting barley on Islay in living memory. He would pave the way for 20 others to join him by 2020.
Bruichladdich Distillery wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise
We first planted Bere barley on Islay in partnership with the University of the Highlands and Islands Agronomy Institute (Orkney). Collaboratively, our work with this six-row landrace would help to keep this ancient grain in commercial circulation, raising its profile and protecting its legacy.
We tested the viability of an anaerobic digestor to power production in our distillery. Undeterred by our failure, we will continue to pursue green energy sources.
Winner of The Energy Institute Environment Award
Biodynamic barley first distilled from Yatesbury House Farm near Wiltshire
Circulation system installed, using wastewater from the stills to heat distillery offices, bottling hall and visitor centre
Construction of Coultorsay warehouses started, future proofing all-Islay maturation for many years to come – a commitment we’ve made since 2001.
The Botanist Foundation is established by then-CEO Simon Coughlin, Jim McEwan retired Master Distiller, CEO Douglas Taylor, our late Head of Communications Carl Reavey and original botanists Richard and Mavis Gulliver. The Foundation would go on to support the RSPB on Islay, the Nature of Scotland awards, wildflower, biodiversity & pollinator initiatives and funding for a PHD student to explore conservation of Scottish juniper.
From 2017 to 2018, we’d plant ~7,500 trees in partnership with The Woodland Trust.
Andrew Jones first grows winter rye on Islay at Coull Farm, introducing additional grain into his crop rotation that year. He would go on to trial spring rye and winter barley in the years following.
We purchased ‘Shore House Croft’. These 30 acres of unused croft land surround the distillery and will be used for research and development into sustainable agriculture.
We have also worked to preserve wildflower populations throughout the distillery grounds. Some of our farming partners have also introduced wildflower conservation strips in barley fields to promote biodiversity, including sunflower strips.
We would start to install LED lights, Passive Infrared Sensors (PIR) sensors in all new builds, phasing across our sites as ongoing maintenance takes place, and installing power inverters to reduce energy consumption across pumps and motors
Between 2018 and 2019, we would divert 126 tonnes of landfill by recycling or reusing
Between 2018 and 2019, we completed 539 hours of volunteer work for our local community during work hours
Certified as Living Wage Employer. Improved maternity pay and flexible working introduced. Cycle to work scheme introduced and +11% headcount recruited
Through an ongoing collaboration with the James Hutton Institute and the UHI Agronomy Institute, we planted 64 varieties of barley (and 27 of wheat) into small plots on our croft. Many were heritage or hybrid varieties designed to test their suitability for growing on the wet, west coast. Hybrid varieties are designed to combine the benefits of conventional varieties such as disease resistance and yield, with characteristics of some heritage varieties such as flavour or long straw. These characteristics are not exclusive to modern or heritage varieties respectively, but hybrids that are bred and tested in local conditions is one of the exciting opportunities we have to develop more sustainable growing in the future. The expertise of these partners will be essential to us testing varieties not currently on the recommended growing list.
We replaced our traditional fossil-fuel powered staff car with two fully electric vehicles
We have donated and supported the Islay Community Footpath project which will link the villages of Bruichladdich and Port Charlotte. We have also donated on an ongoing basis to local charitable organisations across art, music and sport.
From 1st May, 100% of the distillery’s electricity is sourced renewably in the UK
In May, we became the first whisky and gin distillery in Europe to become certified B Corporation.
This year, we are working with 30 individual growers across Islay and Mainland Scotland. 76% of our barley is traceable back to the farm. We work with our malting partner Bairds to source the other 24% from the Invernesshire region of Scotland.
This year, 50% of our annual barley requirements were grown on Islay across 21 individual farms last year. Bruichladdich is able to trace and taste local barley, grown in close proximity to the distillery while our farming partners are able to share in our island’s booming industry and diversify their farming income.
80 people now work for our distillery on Islay, a further 23 are based at our Glasgow office. In our 103 strong team, a diverse age range is represented, from 19 – 75 years of age. 61 are under the age of 40, 28 of those are under 30. A total of 43 are female. Eight of our 18 senior management are female. Those who have been promoted internally or have moved departments to increase their work/life balance total 41.
The Botanist partners with The Botanic Gardens Conservation Internal to provide funding through The Botanist Foundation. The Global Botanic Garden Fund enables gardens to fund projects that further their work in the prevention of extinction of plants. So far we’ve supported projects in Italy, Uganda, Hawaii, Mexico and South Africa.
We’ve launched a feasibility study to assess the use of green hydrogen as an alternative fuel source. The opportunity to be industry leaders in hydrogen will be explored alongside wind, solar, electrification, biomass and fuel switching (HVO).
In February, we’ve made the outer tin optional across our entire single malts range, on our online shop and in our distillery visitor centre. You can now choose to make the world of whisky one tin lighter.
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The figures below state the average representative values per serving giving 10g alcohol, or per standard 25ml measure:
| Product | The Classic Laddie | |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol (% by volume) | 50% | |
| Nutritional values: | Per 10 g alcohol (25,3 ml serving): | Per 25 ml serving: |
| Alcohol (g) | 10 | 10 |
| Calories (Kcal) | 69 | 69 |
| Fat (g) | 0 | 0 |
| – of which Saturates (g) | 0 | 0 |
| Carbohydrates (g) | 0 | 0 |
| – of which Sugar (g) | 0 | 0 |
| Protein (g) | 0 | 0 |
It started with our friend ‘Demolition Dave’ helping Duncan McGillivray and his gang to demolish the old Inverleven distillery – buying up all the old equipment for scrap and loading it onto barges on the Clyde. All so Duncan had some spares to keep Bruichladdich running in the days of No Money.
As this odd flotilla was being towed round the Mull of Kintyre and up to Islay, Laddie MD Mark Reynier received an email from the Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) in the USA who had been monitoring distillery webcams on the grounds that our processes could have been ‘tweaked’ to produce the dreaded WMD. ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’.
Never one to allow the opportunity for a good story to pass him by, or to get his beloved distillery in the news, Reynier embellished the tale, which soon grew to involve spies and the CIA and visits by weapons inspectors. All of which made great headline-grabbing copy in the febrile media atmosphere then prevailing around WMD.
One of the stills from Inverleven was dutifully set up outside the old Victorian buildings, and became an iconic sight, with a pair of Duncan’s old wellie boots sticking out of the top to represent those weapons inspectors searching for dangerous chemicals deep in its copper bottomed interior.
A special bottling was commissioned (of course) and dubbed the ‘Whisky of Mass Distinction’ (geddit?) and much hilarity ensued. At least among the Laddies, the rest of the whisky industry having long since given up on the noisily irreverent rebels.
Things were about to get even more eccentric because, shortly afterwards, Islay fisherman John Baker was heading home to Port Ellen when he spotted something awash in the sea off the bow of his boat. Being a resourceful man, he attached a rope to said object and towed it into the pier where Gordon Currie lifted it out of the water. It proved to be a very beautiful yellow submarine.
Very conveniently, the yellow vessel had ‘Ministry of Defence’ and a telephone number stencilled on it, which was of course immediately called. What happened next was to become the stuff of legend. He was connected to the Royal Navy. “I have found your yellow submarine” said John. “We haven’t lost a yellow submarine” said the Navy. Which was an odd response as the evidence to the contrary was overwhelming.
John and Gordon then loaded the submarine onto a lorry and took it to a secret location in Port Ellen (actually fellow fisherman Harold Hastie’s back garden). The local newspaper was called, then the nationals, and the following day the red-tops were full of pictures of the two friends astride the lethal-looking machine, carrying fishing rods, and asking: “Has anybody lost a yellow submarine?”
Hilarious… unless you were the Royal Navy – who did eventually admit to it being theirs. HMS Blyth, the minesweeper that lost it, eventually came to pick it up, slipping into the pier at dawn to winch it aboard. By that time, Bruichladdich had (of course) commissioned another bottling, WMD2: The Yellow Submarine, and a box of lovely liquid was graciously offered, and accepted by the captain as a goodwill gesture.
The figures below state the average representative values per serving giving 10g alcohol, or per standard 25ml measure:
| Product | Islay Barley 2009 | |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol (% by volume) | 50% | |
| Nutritional values: | Per 10 g alcohol (25,3 ml serving): | Per 25 ml serving: |
| Alcohol (g) | 10 | 10 |
| Calories (Kcal) | 69 | 69 |
| Fat (g) | 0 | 0 |
| – of which Saturates (g) | 0 | 0 |
| Carbohydrates (g) | 0 | 0 |
| – of which Sugar (g) | 0 | 0 |
| Protein (g) | 0 | 0 |
The figures below state the average representative values per serving giving 10g alcohol, or per standard 25ml measure:
| Product | Port Charlotte Scottish Barley | |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol (% by volume) | 50% | |
| Nutritional values: | Per 10 g alcohol (25,3 ml serving): | Per 25 ml serving: |
| Alcohol (g) | 10 | 10 |
| Calories (Kcal) | 69 | 69 |
| Fat (g) | 0 | 0 |
| – of which Saturates (g) | 0 | 0 |
| Carbohydrates (g) | 0 | 0 |
| – of which Sugar (g) | 0 | 0 |
| Protein (g) | 0 | 0 |
The figures below state the average representative values per serving giving 10g alcohol, or per standard 25ml measure:
| Product | Octomore 07.1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol (% by volume) | 59.5% | |
| Nutritional values: | Per 10 g alcohol (25,3 ml serving): | Per 25 ml serving: |
| Alcohol (g) | 10 | 12 |
| Calories (Kcal) | 69 | 82 |
| Fat (g) | 0 | 0 |
| – of which Saturates (g) | 0 | 0 |
| Carbohydrates (g) | 0 | 0 |
| – of which Sugar (g) | 0 | 0 |
| Protein (g) | 0 | 0 |
