Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Scotland

 

We started our day at the Red Scar Farm which makes the Isle of Mull Cheese. The farm is only about 100 acres with 130 cows, 20 or so pigs, and a few goats. The present owner’s parents bought this derelict farm when he was 16. The original stone building was used as the milking parlor while they lived in a trailer. At the time, they couldn’t afford to sell milk at the price milk could fetch from imports, so they used most of their milk to make cheese. This was another example of an organic farm operation. Their electricity comes from the running water. They use the 32 degree Celsius temperature of fresh milk to heat a swimming pool, then cool it down to make whey. We saw their heat exchanger which was hand-designed. They get 3000 liters per day of milk. The cheese is made from whey by carefully controlling the temperature and Ph. We saw both old and new cheese presses. Normally they age their cheese from 6 to 8 months, but business is still slow, so some cheeses have aged for a year. The primarily sell to deli shops. A 25 kg wedge of cheese sells for 100 pounds.

Isle of Mull cheese aging on the shelf

The farm is experimenting with turning whey into a distilled liquor. The whey is fermented 36 to 72 hours, before distilling it twice, resulting in 80% alcohol. The next experiment is to flavor the alcohol into a gin with botanical flavors grown in their garden. They are trying to trademark the name wheysky. We also saw their pigs and goats as well as their woodchip powered boiler. The cheese itself was very tasty. Especially the blue cheese version.

In the afternoon, we toured the waterfront. Of course, the Tobermony distillery was right there, next to a stream. The buildings here are bright colors meant to attract attention as businesses. The island is the fourth largest in Great Britain with 300 miles of coastline. Because of the narrow roads and the lay of the land it can take 2 hours to travel between by car. Even though there are only 3000 people, they have medical stations in 4 different towns and 6 primary schools. We had a pleasant stroll through the woods to a lighthouse. In the evening we were serenaded by a Gaelic choir. This was their first concert under a new director. They also taught us a simple Gaelic dance.