Highland Park cask at dr Jekylls

This cask is located at dr Jekyll's, my favourite whisky bar in Oslo, where I live.
I tasted it, I'm not sure how long it's been stored, and it really has a lot of taste from the cask, a bit to much for me, but well worth trying.

SKÅL

Islay

Visiting Islay is as close to a pilgrimage it is possible to get for a whisky drinker.
Islay a Scottish island, known as "The Queen of the Hebrides" is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides. With a population of only 3500 and 8 whisky distilleries, it is clear that whisky is important on this island. It is known for it's peaty smokey whiskies, but there are exceptions.

How to get there
As it is "a little" of the beaten track getting there is a bit cumbersome. If you come by car, there is a ferry, be sure to have your reservations in order beforehand. You can also get there by plane from Glasgow, with Flybe. On a side note, if you're flying in with Ryan air you'll be landing at Prestwick. Getting from Prestwick to Glasgow Int. Airport isn't that easy, but by taxi it is no more than an hour, and the fare isn't that bad.
Where to live
There is a lot of possibilities, in the form of inns, hostels and cottages. Port Ellen is the port and largest town, while Bowmore is the capital and the most central of the two.
We lived in Bowmore, at the Bowmore distillery itself, wich was reasonable and very nice. You get an appartement, and can make your own food. The Lochside Inn, as mentioned in an earlier post, also seems like a nice place to stay. If you want to cover most of the distilleries, Bowmore is the most central of the two.
The distilleries
The main industries are malt whisky and tourism, mainly related to whisky. The distilleries of Islay are:

• Ardbeg
• Lagavulin
• Laphroig
• Bowmore
• Caol Ila
• Bunnahabain
• Bruchladdich
• Kilchoman
• Port Charlotte, wich is being established at the moment.

I have visited several of them and will post about my visits and link from here as we go along.

I visited in March 2010, and had a great four days, visiting distilleries, hanging out on the Lochside Inn and enjoying Islay hospitality. For anyone slightly interested in whisky in general, and Islay whisky in peticular, Islay is an absolute must.

The Lochside Inn

This is me, at the whiskybar at the Lochside Inn of Islay. All whiskeys are from Islay and we just couldn't get enough of the place.
There are whisky in every price cathegory and they aren't tasting like a camp fire all of them. Even though we are very fond of campfire, as well as iodine, tar, sea and other heavy peaty aromas you could think of.
My wife usually refers to it as airplane fuel and, therefore, undrinkable.
The Lochside Inn is a family business and a very nice one at that. We felt very welcome, the food was good and the Islay hospitality really showed. When I needed a computer to confirm my airline tickets, the hostess lent me her office.
If you need just one reason to go to Islay, this could be it, but I will provide you with several others in due time.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capitol of Scotland and therefore have a lot to offer the whisky interested.

It has lots of other to offer as well, but I’m not going to bother with that in this blog, am I.

Pubs

Edinburgh has a lot of pubs, the highest frequenzy of pubs in the whole of britain, someone told me. After being there I can believe them. You really don’t have to wander far before you find one, and finding one to your liking isn’t that hard either. And all of them serve whisky, of course, and a lot of them have quite a few to choose from.

You’ll find a bunch down in Grassmarket, and among these, my favourite is The last Drop. My friend Tom is there as well, speaking on the phone with his wife.

Good advice there, for boys on the loose like this, allways speak with your loved ones on a daily basis, and be sure to tell them that you’re miserable without them, even if it isn’t true. They will know it isn’t true, but will appreciate the effort.

From an American in Edinburgh, dr Whisky, who spent several years in this city, a list of his top choises, here.

I would like to give my hounorable mention to…

The Stockbridge Tap

This was my first experience of a proper whisky bar/pub. They had such a selection of single malts that they where organized alphabetically on the shelves, three bootles deep, and the menu was several pages with three coloumns on each page.

It was also here that I tasted my first Port Ellen wich is an experienze I have returned to several times later. For those not in the know, Port Ellen was demolished in 1998 and does not excist as a distillery any more. Today, there is an industrial malting plant on the premises, and old stock is getting rare. I do have a bootle of it thogh, and am able to enjoy it when the whim comes over me.

Back at the Stockbridge Tap, I also remember it as a typical local pub, off the beaten track, but still a place to find your way to if in Edinburgh.

As I was writing this article, I checked on Google, and it seems this place has new owners and the food is not as it used to be. On Street View, the signs are down, so it seems this nice place is history. Too bad, but a great memory, none the less.

Distilleries

Even though Scotland has well over a hundred distilleries, there aren’t that many around Edinburgh. I have been too two, Glenturret, which is The Famous Grouse Visitor Centre, wich again isn’t quite as bad as it sounds and Edradour, among the smallest distilleries in Scotland. They claim themselves to be smallest but after visiting Kilchoman at Islay, among the youngest distilleries right now, I would have to disagree. In my judgement, the latter is the smallest.

I will make single posts on my distillery visits later, this post will be the hub on my Edinburgh visit and experiences there.

What's on the horizon

I will in the near future start posting more regulary on this blog. First up will be some travel letters from my visits to Scotland and the distillerys I've visited while there. Something like this:

• My visits to Edinburgh, with:
• Edinburgh itself of course
• The Famous Grouse experience
• Edradour destillery
• My visit to Islay, with:
• Ardbeg
• Laphroig
• Bowmore
• Bruichladdich
• Kilchoman
• The Lochside Inn with it's great whisky bar

Later I will be describing the content of my cupboards, limited to whisky of course, with good pictures as well.

Updates

Seems I have more visitors here than I anticipated, wich will lead to more updates in the year to come.