FUN-travel: Islay, Scotland – Fèis Ìle – Day 3
June 15, 2017 by Susan Clarke
Got lucky again…
…boys from Sydney have car…
…for our morning tasting tour.
1st stop – Bruichladdich – 10 am
…only to find out…
…no tastings before 11…so on to…
2nd stop – Kilchoman – one of the smallest distilleries in Scotland…
…and the only independently owned one on Islay…
…one of only a handful still practicing floor malting…
…barley is also grown on the farm…
…making Kilchoman the only distillery to…
…complete all parts of the whisky making process on site.
Bowmore
3rd stop – back to Bruichladdich…for our tastings…
Bowmore Church
…and my big surprise as they also make…
…The Botanist…one of my favorite gins…
…22 hand-foraged local botanicals…
…delicately augment 9 berries, barks, seeds & peels…
…during an achingly slow distillation…
…and the first and only Islay Dry Gin.
4th stop – Bowmore …
…only a hop, skip & a jump…
…from where we are staying…
…oldest continual operating distillery founded in 1779…
…but rumor has it…
….they were making whisky long before that.
FUN-fact – Fèis Ìle runs 8 days and there are 8 distilleries. So each day one is the featured music & malt festival hot spot.
More FF – Bowmore’s famous round church was built “with no corners for the devil to hide in.”
Our Lovely View From Room at The Bowmore House