Getting to Islay from Ireland

Believe it or not, Islay (pronounced eye-la) is pretty close to the Antrim coast and while the conventional way to get there would be to fly to Glasgow and get a plane to Islay from there, a cheaper and quicker option is to get a boat from Ballycastle in Northern Ireland to Port Ellen on Islay. We visited at the start of August which was the weekend I turned 40.

The ferry service is provided by Kintyre Express between April and September, based out of Campletown in Scotland. It’s a fast, comfortable 12 seat boat with a toilet on board. Our crossing took about a 90 minutes and was uneventful in terms of weather as it was calm and flat, although I’d say in rougher seas, it would be a bit more lively. On the crossing over, we even saw a pod of Dolphins or possibly Pilot Whales as well as plenty of Puffins and Gannets along with other sea birds. One real benefit of doing this is that there’s no luggage limits. You leave your car in Ballycastle (plenty of free parking) and come back loaded with Scotch Whisky.

Distilleries on Islay

On the map above, there are 8 working distilleries on the island. There’s a 9th one called Ardnahoe in the north east near Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain but they haven’t produced anything yet, though I did visit during the trip.

You don’t need a car to visit the three Port Ellen distilleries but it’s pretty handy to visit the rest. Bowmore and Bruichladdich can be reached on a local bus service but it’s not the most regular of services so might prove troublesome.

We opted to rent a car which was waiting in Port Ellen and we drove towards Port Charlotte where we had accommodation booked for 2 nights in an Airbnb just outside of the village. We were early enough that our accommodation wasn’t going to be ready yet so we stopped off in Bowmore first which is technically the principal town on the island.

We weren’t on time for a tour but that’s ok, we were directed upstairs to the tasting room where I was offered a free dram of single malt. We had hoped to get a bite to eat but they didn’t serve food, a quirk we discovered is shared by most of the distilleries on the island. So we headed out to grab a bite to eat in town.

Next, we stopped off at Islay Ales by Bridgend which is set in a kind of craft village. It’s worth a visit and I’ve written about that on my beer blog: taleofale.com on this post.

Since it was time to check in to our Airbnb, we headed there next and checked in before walking the 25 minutes to Bruichladdich in the hope to get the last tour. We made it just in time but it was full unfortunately. That doesn’t matter, we were invited to the tasting bar to try, well pretty much everything as it turns out.

We were taken on the tasting journey through 7 Bruichladdich whiskies and even a gin and they were all absolutely wonderful. I opted to buy a bottle of the Port Charlotte which I had to hand fill myself. It was the one we liked the most during the tasting.

The next day, we took the car the more obscure distilleries that pretty much require a car to access them. We started off at Kilchoman on the west side of the island. It is pretty much in the middle of nowhere but a beautiful drive to get there. We had already eaten that morning but Kilchoman does have a cafe so we grabbed coffee and cake.

We couldn’t do a tour but again, we did a tasting and bought a bottle of Sanaig from memory, though I might have grabbed something else actually. We also picked up two bottles of a peated bramble liqueur they make.

Next we headed to the north east of the island where there were three distilleries near Port Askaig. We started at the Ardnahoe distillery which is the newest one the island. Everything is shiny new, it only looks like it opened its doors a few weeks before we arrived and as it turns out, it had only opened at the end of May.

Since they are too new to have any of their own whisky for sale, I asked for a random whisky from their list. Inside is a massive tasting room with full seating and a restaurant. It was a nice pit stop but really, there’s little to bring you there at the moment other than the prospect of food, lovely views of Jura across the water and somewhere to stop on the way to Bunnahabhain.

The next stop was Bunnahabhain where we couldn’t get a tour because they simply weren’t running them that day due to being on a shut down. I had a sample or two before moving on to Caol Ila which was futile because the whole distillery was pretty much closed to the public for construction. There were limited tours running but you needed to book in advance.

So we just headed off around the island in the car, including a quick stop at Ardbeg for lunch before heading back to Port Charlotte for dinner.

The next day, we would drop the car back to Port Ellen and spend the next 2 days visiting the 3 distilleries nearby on foot.

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I remember the Supervalu drinks range from 20 years ago very well. My first job was at Supervalu in Palmerstown. I started there as an after school job and then when I finished my leaving cert, I briefly went there full time until I moved on to the IT world but I still have fond memories of working there. What I remember from working in Supervalu and indeed visiting many others over the years is this. The range of drinks available back then was incredibly limited, as it was in every supermarket. Supervalu Palmerstown was even more so as they were only allowed to sell wine, not beer or spirits. As I recall, that was a unique scenario because of the deal with the land they occupied. I believe it was owned by the pub and off-licence across the road. I imagine that might have changed since then?

A few years ago, things started to change. Supervalu on Aston Quay in Dublin became a hero when it came to its craft beer range, almost unique among supermarkets in Ireland. More and more, the range increased in other Supervalus around the country, more so after the takeover of Superquinn. The former Superquinn shops were re-branded as Sueprvalu which ended in a massive range of beer, wine, and spirits available that were previously only available in specialist off-licences.

Irish Whiskey is the new craft beer. Distilleries are being built all over the country. In fact, according to the ABFI:

In 2013, there were four distilleries in Ireland in operation producing and selling Irish Whiskey:
Cooley Distillery (est 1987)
Kilbeggan Distillery (est 1757, re-commissioned 2007)
New Midleton Distillery (est 1975)
Old Bushmills Distillery (est 1784)

By August 2017, the number of operational whiskey distilleries in Ireland had increased to 18, demonstrating the scale of Ireland’s Whiskey Renaissance. New distilleries have opened in each of the four provinces, from Dublin’s Liberties to rural communities right across Ireland. There are also plans for a further 16 distilleries.

That’s pretty incredible considering the cost of setting up a distillery is a fair bit more than setting up a brewery. Whiskey more so because you have to wait 3 years before you can even sell your spirit as Irish whiskey. Of course that’s not much a problem because in the meantime, they can produce gin and vodka to pay the bills and also release blended Irish whiskey. Blended whiskey is what most whiskey tends to be. That’s where you buy whiskey spirit from other distilleries and blend it until you achieve the desired flavour profiles. It’s often further aged in other types of wooden barrels to introduce new flavours. Teeling for instance uses former rum barrels to blend whisky while awaiting their own spirits to mature.

In recent years, Supervalu has been championing Irish whiskey brands and the other week, they held a media event to showcase what they are doing. It was held at Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin, down in the crypts. You actually couldn’t wish for a more perfect setting in which to sample whiskey in my view. It reminded me somewhat of visiting Cognac producers last year. The cellars were nice and cool despite all the people and lights.

There were plenty of food options to pair with the whiskey, all made from products available from Supervalu such as Silver Hill Farm duck I picked up at Bloom a few months ago. There were two smoked cheeses which worked perfectly with the peaty Connemara whiskey for instance. In particular, they had butternut squash and toasted hazelnut on Italian cracker bread and it was absolutely amazing.

Of course, I couldn’t get through all of the whiskey available on the night but I did my best. Above is a collage of most of the new stuff I tried. I was particularly excited about the new release from Dingle. It’s a year older at 4 years old now. It’s still very limited, in fact all bottles have been pre-sold to vendors so watch out for them. The good news is that a special batch of 700 bottles has been exclusively set aside for Supervalu. This batch has been aged in both bourbon and port barrels and you can really taste both the sweet vanilla and slightly burnt oak from the bourbon and a slight vinous quality from the port. Mandarin orange makes up the middle ground here. It’s still a young whiskey so will not be as complex as a 12 year old but it’s amazing to experience the journey of the first new 100% Irish whiskey in my drinking lifetime, produced by a new Irish distillery.

The two whiskies from the new Pearse distillery were there on the night, it was the first time I got to try them. While it is a blend, they both use some of their own Irish spirit. Wait, how is that possible? The distillery only opened its doors a matter of weeks ago. Simple really, the distillery itself had been in production at the Carlow Brewing Company facility for some years. Those are the people that make the O’Hara’s range of craft beer. They are planning on releasing a whiskey that will be 100% their own spirit soon, they are just waiting for the right flavours to develop.

The two Powers bottles side by side were interesting. They are both called Single Cask Release and they both cost €200 but they are not the same. As I understand it, both are the same batch of spirit that were casked on 26/11/2001. The one on the left was from cask 69924 and was grand but not worth €200 from a flavour point of view, it was a little harsh. The one on the right however was from cask 69915 and this one was actually very delicious. I’m not sure I would personally pay €200 for a bottle myself but I can see what they are doing. It proves the benefits of blended whiskey. On its own, 69924 isn’t great but if it’s blended with 69915, we get a very different animal.

One whiskey on the night seriously impressed me, above all others. Dubliner Irish Whiskey from the Dublin Liberties Distillery which has yet to open its doors. I think they said it should be open in June. Dubliner is a 10 year old blended whiskey but it’s so smooth that it tastes like a 16 or 18 year old. The biggest delight comes from the mouthfeel which is silky smooth and slightly oily, leaving a thick, viscous coating down the back of your throat. Why is it so good? Simple, the master distiller/blender Darryl McNally is a former distiller from Bushmills. I’ll certainly be picking up one of these the next time I’m looking for a good whiskey. I believe it’s about €50 for a bottle but maybe a little less. I don’t see it available online unfortunately.

Quite a number of whiskies are exclusive to Supervalu. I imagine that means exclusive in supermarket terms with most still available at certain off-licences because I know Celtic Whiskey Shop has most of them too. These exclusives include: West Cork 2 barrels, Hyde 1916 Single Grain, Jameson Black Barrel, Glendalough Double Barrel, Writers Tears Copper Pot, Pearse original and distillers choice.

Thanks to Supervalu for inviting me along for the evening. It was a great experience in a wonderful setting.

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This time, they aged the whiskey in barrels last used by Franciscan Well to age Chieftain IPA. Strangely enough, I don’t recall actually having a barrel aged Chieftain IPA before so either it was a limited release and I missed it, or else it just hasn’t been released yet. Thankfully, I had appropriate Franciscan Well glassware to house the can of Chieftain they sent me but alas, my Jameson glass has either smashed or been packed away somewhere. I picked a non branded glass for the sake of the photos.

So how is it? Well, I got honey and grapefruit on nose, the grapefruit expected from the IPA influence but still rather unexpected at the same time. It’s like a mellower Jameson, Softer and slightly buttery. Pairing with Chieftain, the toffee, grapefruit and hint of butter is magnified in both drinks. Chieftain contains some butterscotch, diacetyl notes which works nicely with the beer and this really transferred into the whiskey.

In fact, I needed to compare it to regular Jameson and thankfully, Pauline had picked up a litre bottle of the stuff on a recent trip so I cracked it open to do a side by side. No need to take a picture as they look identical.

Compared to regular Jameson, the regular is sharper with more alcohol on nose. It’s fruitier with dark fruits and some orange marmalade.
Caskmates is a little thinner in body but a little oilier of that makes sense and all about the toffee and butterscotch with just that hint of citrus / grapefruit.

There are only 2000 bottles of this available, of which a few hundred are available to the on-trade and the rest is exclusive to your local O’Briens off-license for €38. In Dublin, I know for certain that Bar Rua and L. Mulligan Grocer have it on their shelves if you want to try a glass of it. Personally, I think the stout version (still available) worked a little better but it was really interesting and surprising to see some of the IPA characteristics come out. I suspect that this will work really well at Christmas time, paired with some Christmas pudding so I’ll be testing my theory in a couple of months time I guess.

Keep your eye out on social media as there might be a whiskey and beer tasting featuring Franciscan Well, Jameson and some craft beers on November 1st. It hasn’t been confirmed yet but I believe it’s happening at L. Mulligan Grocer on November 1st. Tickets, which include your beer and whiskey will be €20 as far as I’m know. Again, none of this is confirmed so for now, keep an eye out for it on social media over the coming week or two.

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As part of The Dublin Whiskey Festival, a number of talks/tastings were taking place around Dublin. I was invited along to the Loch Lomond tasting in the Smock Alley theatre to experience some Scotch from a distillery I’ve never tried before. Suzanne Redmond hosted the tasting and brought us on a journey of the range from the regular un-peated blends through single malts and up to peated whisky.

Before we started on the Loch Lomond whisky, Suzanne had a little treat for us. An Indian single malt whisky called Rampur. I’ve had Indian whisky before at a whiskey bar in Vilnius called King & Mouse. It was called Amrut and it was a little odd. Rampur was much better thankfully, it was slick and full of flavour. There was a real marzipan/almond thing going on.

Next we moved on to the first of the Loch Lomond range with their Signature whisky. There was a lot of butterscotch which in beer terms I would associate with diacetyl. It’s a nice enough Scotch but not necessarily something I would be looking out for personally.

Things took a dark turn with the Single Grain I’m afraid. This tasted like a cross between Jagermeister and Gin. It was essentially undrinkable to me. There was also a bang of green apples which in beer terms usually means acetaldehyde so I imagine it’s the same here.

Thankfully, we got back on track with this  wonderful 12 year old Inchmurrin. A big chewy caramel with a lot of dark fruits and mandarin. It was absolutely delicious and the room essentially savoured this one for a while.

Another 12 year old, this is the regular Loch Lomond single malt and it’s similar to Inchmurran, perhaps a little smoother but it just seemed to be lacking a little of the extra dark fruit flavours I loved in the Inchmurran. Still a bloody good Scotch whisky though.

It was now time to try the peated whiskies and we started with the Glen Scotia Distillery which is now owned by Loch Lomond as of 2014 where they invested heavily to bring it up to spec. Glen Scotia is a tiny distillery though with only a handful of employees. Anyway, this wasn’t particularly peaty, just a hint really. It did taste a lot like a boozy marmalaide though. I could almost spread it on toast. It pretty lovely with a whack of sherry coming through in the finish.

Back to Loch Lomond itself and their Inchmoan peated. This is bascially a peated version of the regular 12 year old where they have used peat kilned malt in the original mash. There’s a load of orange in this one too but also honey and caramel along with a sherry finish. While it’s well peated, it doesn’t quite get up to Ardbeg levels.

With the exception of one, all Of the six Loch Lomond whiskies we went through ranged from pretty good to excellent, my order of preference would be as follows:

1. Inchmurran
2. 12 year old
3. Inchmoan Peated
4. Glenscotia Peated
5. Signature
6. Single Grain

A big thanks to The Cask Magazine and Suzanne for putting on the event. It was a great experience and really interesting to find one whiskey maker producing such a wide range of whiskeys. Also, excuse the interchangeable whiskey and whisky spellings. I will always spell whiskey with an e unless I’m directly referring to Scotch or a whiskey where they elect not to use the e such as Rampur.

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The plan is to make Ireland a world leader in Whiskey Tourism by 2030. Can we do it? I don’t see why not. Before prohibition in the US, Ireland was the largest exporter of whiskey in the world. In the mid 1900s, Ireland had 88 distilleries. I have seen another figure which stands at 108 so what happened?

A visit to the Teeling Distillery earlier this year

Changes in Technology

Changes in production technology with a reluctance to change among Irish distillers. Column still distillation was embraced in Scotland. This new type of still allowed a continuous & efficient distillation. On a tour of the Kilbeggan distillery I learned that they got a column still put in but they felt the quality was adversely affected so they went back to the traditional single pot still system. The old column still is still visible though. Perhaps there’s a certain irony that the column still was perfected by an Irishman named Aeneas Coffey. Since his still was shunned by the Irish distillers, he sold his design to Scotland and the Americas.

Prohibition

Prohibition in the US and other some countries was a major factor because apart from there not being a legal way to sell Irish whiskey to Americans, bootleggers produced “Irish Whiskey” in the US and Irish whiskey gained a bad reputation which persisted even after the lift of prohibition. Since Scotland had embraced the more efficient column still, Scottish distillers were in a much better position to embrace the re-opened US market and hadn’t suffered from reputation damage due to poor quality bootleggers. Scottish whiskey was now seen as a superior product to Irish whiskey, a complete reversal in fortunes after just 13 short years.

Distillery Consolidation

The other big issue was distillery consolidation which saw Ireland having just two working distilleries in the 1980s. In a very similar situation that Irish breweries were experiencing, distilleries were merging or larger distilleries were buying up smaller ones all around the country.

The future

Despite our fall from grace, Ireland remains the 4th largest producer of whiskey in the world after Scotland/UK, USA and Japan.

3 years ago, there were four distilleries in operation with five visitor centres on the island of Ireland. Now there are sixteen working distilleries, with another 13 in the planning stage. Combined with the proposed Intoxicating Liquor (Breweries and Distilleries) Bill 2016 which proposes to allow breweries, cider producers, distilleries and likely wine producers to sell their own products to the public at limited times, this will help to grow the tourism sector by encouraging distilleries to run tours and tastings. The Teeling distillery in Dublin for instance has embraced tourism from day one and runs daily tours and tastings in their fabulous distillery in Dublin’s city centre and there are more distilleries set to open in the city very soon.

The first new Irish whiskey in decades was just released by the Dingle distillery. While other new distilleries have been producing new Irish whiskey, this has been spirit sourced from other distilleries such as the Cooley distillery. The new Dingle whiskey is the first newly produced single malt whiskey. Single malt means the spirit was sourced from one distillery rather than blended from spirit from various distilleries. Dingle produced the spirit and then aged it for the requisite 3 years and has now released the first batch to coincide with the whiskey tourism strategy. I tried some at the event and it’s not bad. It’s a little young perhaps at just 3 years old but it shows great promise. I’m used to drinking whiskey that’s 8 or 12 years old.

Currently, Irish whiskey is the fastest growing premium spirit in the world and over the last 10 years, sales have increased a staggering 300% with whiskey accounting for almost a 3rd of total beverage exports from Ireland.

For more info, here’s a link to a PDF from the Irish Whiskey Association about the strategy. The future of Irish whiskey is very bright indeed.

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