Single Malt

Editor's Note: In response to my pre-season appeal to followers for topics to post this season, Brother Bill said he wanted to read about the pubs and distilleries in the UK and Ireland. Well, the post below answers the call. This one is penned by guest blogger John Hoopes, who is currently crewing aboard Windleblo. Disregard that it is slightly out of order and you'll do just fine.

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by John Hoopes

We took a layover day on the island of Islay, an isle known as one of the top whiskey-producing regions in Scotland (especially for its distinctive smokiness). The two most famous distilleries on the island are Laphroaig and Bowmore, both of which I took a look at from the outside. However, we opted to tour Lagavulin, located within a mile of both the Laphroaig and Ardbeg distilleries on the south coast of Islay, a few miles from Port Ellen, where we were staying.

The tour was quite interesting - we got the skinny from Paul, born on Islay and a Lagavulin fanatic. (I wonder if you're required to love the whiskey to be a tour guide. If so, he apparently qualified.)

Paul spun us the history of the distillery, as well as a good bit about the process of creating whiskey from barley, yeast and water, which I'll relate below.

Most Islay barley is shipped in from off the island, often from the Scottish Mainland, England and the Ukraine. It arrives in Port Ellen, where it is turned into malt by soaking and germinating the barley, then drying it with 14 hours of peat smoke treatment and then several more of hot air. This is where the Islay whiskeys get their distinctive peaty flavor.

After this, the malt is roughly ground and water is added, creating mash, which is heated to 62 deg C. This component of the process is designed to break down the malt starch and dissolve the malt sugars, which are siphoned off in the form of wort.

Wort is mixed with yeast and allowed to ferment for (a relatively short) 55 hours, during which time it becomes wash. Wash is an 8-9% ABV smoky/peaty beer-like liquid, two steps shy of whiskey. The wash is transported to the stills, where it is boiled and the vapors are distilled. A bit more distillation gymnastics and you have the spirits, which are 69% ABV and what goes in to the barrels.

Lagavulin uses 250L barrels made of American Bourbon wood that has been used for at least two whiskeys previously. This ensures that the sweet, vanilla flavor present in the wood is diminished. Whiskey goes in for 12- 16 years of aging and comes out Lagavulin.

Paul said that it has been shown that 60 - 80% of a whiskey's final character comes from the wood. The standard Lagavulin is the 16 year, a rich, full-bodied whiskey with subtle smokiness, sweetness and a bit of a seaweed flavor. This was the bottle I elected to bring home, and will enjoy on hopefully more than one occasion.

Lagavulin is the third largest distillery on Islay, the first being its sister distillery, Cuil Ila ("cull eela"). Lagavulin produces 2.3 million L/year - Cuil Ila makes around 6 million L/year, much of which serves as the main ingredient in Johnny Walker.

After the tour we met Paul at the White Hart Pub, where we had a few pints and observed a Scotland - Italy rugby game. It was impossible to understand the Scotsmen, but occasionally they'd burst out into uproarious laughter, which was impossible to ignore. Very entertaining, but I didn't really know what was going on.

Now we're sailing the North Sea into Ireland, where we will spend the next week..