Islay, Scotland

 

Carraig Fhada Lighthouse, Islay, Scotland

We are the first tourist ship to visit Islay (pronounced eye-la) in four years. We walked along the shoreline on a beautiful day, watching the children play on the beach and the adults out for a picnic. Our primary visit was to the Laphroaig distillery, one of 10 Whisky distilleries on this 18 by 24 mile island. The whiskies have a peaty smell to them because the grain is smoked in a peat fire. We sampled four different whiskies from a three year old to 10 year old to a selection of 7 to 21 year old, to a fourth aged in quarter casks adding more intense flavors.  A Scotch Whiskey has to have at least 40% alcohol by volume, be aged 3 years in oak caskets, and be made from barley grown in Scotland. What was most interesting to me was how adding one drop of water changed the taste significantly.

Taste Testing at the distillery

In the afternoon the church ladies fed us tea and cakes as they sold some of the local crafts. Unique was some flavored Sea salts. We then learned some of the local history including that the entire island once was owned by a Walter Campbell. Today’s population is 3000.