Laphroig - The Final Tasting

As if we hadn't had enough. Sascha and Julie were keen to do this comprehensive tasting on Tuesday, our final day on Islay. In for a penny, in for a pound, (cause we are in the UK) we all went, joined at the hip.

Freddy, our taxi driver arrived at 11am. A 45 minute drive to the distillery where we were greeted by the lovely Bryony. A woman of fine looks and fighting spirit. She was a laugh a minute. We were given a small Laphroig tasting glass on a lanyard to hang around our necks, lest we drop him, and began the day with a 15 year old dram. Our group was joined by a Canadian couple, Dickson and Penny, from Toronto.

 

Bryony our guide

We did the tour and I have to tell you the peaty smell was more than evident. Peat burns at a very low temperature which give the barley a long time to dry and be smoked, sometimes a full 16 hours. Laphroig is one of the few distilleries that grows some of its own barley now, most of the others import it. Kilchoman is another and Highland Park on Orkney also does.
 

Our Tasting Group



Smoking the Barley

The Peat Fire

 

Another dram on tour, just to keep us going.

Lunch time and the question is do we stay and eat inside or do we take a picnic to the fields?

Look at sky, does it look threatening? Yes.

Feel the temperature. Is it cold? Yes.

Feel the wind. Is it blowing a gale? Yes

Shall we eat in or out? 

Do we feel lucky? Yes

There was no other choice than to picnic....are we mad? Yes

In the bus with another dram to keep us going. 

We drove the low roads and the high roads till we came to the spot. A wee walk to the picnic table, just over the hill, bloody long walk, bloody big hill. We were blown over the hill being told by Bryony how much she loves her job and how she loves a picnic.

Bryony and her treats

Johnny chatting to Bryony

John chatting to Dickson

 

We were given a picnic esky that contained hot chicken and barley soup, a crab, venison and beef selection sandwich, Laphroig cheese, a scotch egg, fruit bread and shortbread all washed down with drams of the 18 yr Laphroig and Triple Wood Laphroig. Believe it or not, the spot was sheltered and the sun came out. Bliss.

 

The walk back was less than blissful with gale force winds gusting us back over the hill to the bus. Next stop, a lesson in peat cutting, which was easier than I thought it would be. It's very soft to cut through.

 

Another dram of Quarter Cask, a particularly peaty dram, just to keep us going.....
 

These tractors are 1950 editions and are still in use although they have to share a battery!
 

Ok, all the hard work done, back to the distillery and to the special room where we try three special editions of cask strength whiskies. We tried all three and then bottled our own little bottles to take home, the one we preferred.

Sascha bottling his whisky

Me and John

 What a treat and what a fab time we had. Bryony was having such a chat and a good time at lunch she lost track of time and we were late getting back, but that did not cause her to hurry the rest of the experience. Apparently we had just set the record for the longest picnic ever....oh dear, the Naughty table strikes again.
 

Our goodbyes said, Freddy arrived to take us home again at just after 5pm. Bryony disappeared, only to return with a Laphroig hip flask as a gift for the happy couple. Nice.