malt month OF THE
Plans for a new distillery on Islay between Port Ellen and Laphroaig, very likely at a site called Farkin, were unveiled at Ramsay Hall last week.
Elixir Distillers, which owns the Port Askaig and Elements of Islay brands, is due to submit a planning application after a public consultation. If approved, building could start in 2019, and distillation in 2020 – the same year whisky returns to the silent Port Ellen distillery.
Co-founder Sukhinder Singh, the brains behind Whisky Exchange, said: ‘Some of the world’s most amazing drams come from Islay. As soon as I saw the distillery site, I fell in love with it. It’s on the holy grail of whisky roads, passing Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg distilleries on the way to Kidalton Cross. Plus it’s in the town of Port Ellen, which as a collector of Port Ellen single malt, has a special meaning. It was just too good to resist.’
It will be the talk of the Islay Festival of Music and Malt, or Feis Ile, which opens the doors to all eight of the island’s distilleries from May 25 until June 2.
Visitors can sample Islay’s most powerful whiskies ‘saturated with peat-smoke, brine and iodine’ at Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Lagavulin, the milder, ‘mossy’ and ‘seaweed’ malts of Bruichladdich and Bunnahabhain, the dry, smoky, smooth dram of Caol Ila, the floral, toffee nip of Bowmore, and the fruity, peaty snifter of Kilchoman’s farm distillery, the first to be built on Islay for 124 years.
Islay’s ninth distillery, Ardnahoe, is due to open, if all goes as planned, in summer 2018, creating a classic peated style Islay malt. Two more whisky distilleries, Part Charlotte and Gartbreck, could also be in the pipeline, and there is even rumours of a gin distillery at Bridgend.
In October last year, Diageo, which operates Caol Ila and Lagavulin distilleries on Islay, revealed plans to reopen Port Ellen distillery, which has been closed since 1983. One of Islay’s smallest distilleries, Ardbeg, has announced plans for a new still house, doubling its number of stills from two to four – due to be completed by 2019 if approved.
A boat-hop across the Sound of Jura, you can also tour the Isle of Jura Distillery and try its new range of five malt whiskies: Journey, Jura 10, Jura 12, Jura 18, and finally – my malt of the month – the mahogany-gold Seven Wood, matured in seven oak barrels, and tasting of caramelised peach, chewy liquorice and candied orange. Don’t miss Lussa Gin’s distillery in George Orwell country further north at Ardlussa.