Bruichladdich

We had another round of Andrew's great Scottish breakfast and another breakfast dram at the Bowmore House before starting off towards Bruichladdich (Bruk-la-dee). We had watched a documentary on Netflix at Janie's dad's house that focused on the reopening of this distillery so we were keen to see it in person. The distillery opened in 1881 and shut down in 1984. A group of private investors from the wine industry purchased the stock of whisky in 2000 and were given the distillery for free. It was purchased by Remy Cointreau in 2012. We got our first real tour of the trip as we were taken through the production facility, although the distillery was currently on its summer shutdown. They still use most of the original machinery from the 1930s. The distillery also makes Port Charlotte whisky as well as the Botanist line of gin. Our guide Fraser explained how the gin was distilled through what he likened to a tea bag filled with 22 different botanicals they collected themselves from all over Islay.

• Bere Barley 2013 is made using six-row barley from Orkey and matured in a combination of first-fill bourbon barrels and second-fill Pauillac wine casks and is 50% ABV.
• Port Charlotte Cask Exploration Series SC 01 uses 100% Islay-grown barley and is matured first in sherry butts and first and second-fill American whiskey barrels and then recasked in high-quality French oak Sauternes casks for nine years. It is malted to 40 PPM.
• Octomore 14.1 is distilled from 100% Scottish mainland barley and peated to 128.9 PPM and matured for five years in first-fill ex-American whiskey casks. 14.2 would be distilled in wine, sherry or cognac casks, while 14.3 would use Islay barlay and 14.4 would use virgin oak casks.

Janie also sampled the basic Botanist dry gin.

Kilchoman

Our next stop was Kilchoman (Kil-ho-man) where we had lunch served to us in what used to be the stables of an old barn, but is now their visitor center. Kilchoman is one of the newest distilleries in Islay, opening in 2015 on the site of Rockside Farm, where they still grow their own barley as well as do their own floor malting, which is unusual as most of the others send their barley out to the mainland for malting. They age their whisky in bourbon casks from Breckenridge Distillery in Colorado. We were surprised to be served only two drams on this tour.

• 100% Islay 13th Edition is Islay's only single farm, single malt scotch whisky, using Islay barley malted, distilled, matured and bottled onsite.
• Machir Bay is their signature peated single malt, matured in bourbon and sherry casks.

Bowmore

Our last distillery stop was at Bowmore, one of the oldest running in Scotland, dating back to 1779. It is also owned by Beam Suntory. We arrived later than expected due to the lengthy lunch at Kilchoman and so were a bit rushed getting to our tasting.

• Bowmore 12 is the classic Bowmore whisky matured in bourbon and sherry casks and 40% ABV.
• Bowmore 19 Distillery Exclusive is aged 19 years, four in ex-bourbon casks and 15 in virgin oak and created for Fèis Ìle (Faysh-Ile), the Islay Festival.
• Bowmore 25 Distillers Anthology Second Edition is matured in 13 different ex-bourbon hogshead casks and bottled at a cask strength of 47.8% ABV.

Janie was taken by the Bowmore 34 with a dragon design by artist Frank Quitely, who drew for DC and Marvel. She enjoyed her dram of this, but at several hundred dollars per bottle, we decided not to purchase any.

The Lochside

We walked back towards the hotel, stopping in the Co-op to buy some sodas before going back down the street for our dinner reservation at the Lochside hotel. We stopped in their pub for a couple of beers first before dinner and then enjoyed our last meal in Bowmore.