Discover Whisky

No whisky enthusiast needs to be told about Islay, the island that is so steeped in our favourite spirit that it seems to run in the very blood of the inhabitants. Equally we are all aware of the sad fate of many of Scotland’s famous old distilleries; mothballed or closed forever due to the boom and bust nature of the blended whisky market mixed in with the effects of prohibition and two world wars. So any reversal of fortune, any revival of a closed distillery is to be celebrated.

Such is the case with Bruichladdich, and this new book looks at the background to its purchase, reopening, and subsequent success. There are many people behind the revival of this famous old distillery, and author Stuart Rivans is careful to ensure they are all well credited, but two men stand out - Mark Reynier and Jim McEwan. The former has the vision of a wider range of the highest quality malt whiskies for every occasion - born out of his deep knowledge of the wine trade and changing tastes - and the business drive to pull off impossible deals, while the latter has the consummate knowledge of the art of whisky distilling, of the men who help produce it and how to motivate them, and is natural communicator to the public. Along with their entire staff they have a passion for what they’re doing.

Without these two it’s doubtful if Bruichladdich could have been revived, but what comes through strongly is that it could probably only have succeeded on Islay; because of the strong community spirit, the generous help freely given by the local population, and the native ability to repair just about anything with minimum resources. The delightful little mention of the scones and pancakes left anonymously at the distillery door after yet another late night had been worked gives just a hint of the nature of the people there.

As Reynier said, it’s not really his or his shareholders’ distillery, it’s theirs, it’s part of the soul of the island, and the boost to moral which the reopening has produced is testament to it. The further project of rebuilding and reopening Port Charlotte is an even bolder step which promises further benefits for the island and its people as well a new flavours for malt enthusiasts to savour.

For the first few chapters I confess I was a little concerned about the writing style. It seemed to repeat and have false starts and I wondered if it needed editing. However after a while I began to realise that it was a by-product of the author’s enthusiasm for the tale being told and affection for the people and place being described, and by the end I was wishing the book was longer and wondering about signing up for the Whisky Academy which was so lovingly described.

If you’re a whisky enthusiast (and why else would you be reading this blog!) then you’ll want to read this story; to feel some of the atmosphere of Islay, to confirm that the little guy really can survive and prosper against the conglomerates, and to rejoice in the prospects of even more interesting single malts becoming available in the near future. And of course you’ll want a bottle of one of Bruichladdich’s highly individual products by your armchair as you do so!

Slainte!

Whisky Dreams: Waking a Giant
by Stuart Rivans
Published by Birlinn
Paperback
ISBN-13: 9781841586816
Price: £9.99

In the course of research for my new Scottish Books website I came across a forthcoming book that’s likely to be of interest to many readers of this blog and particularly the Islay drinkers.

Whisky Dream is the story of the resurrection and development of Bruichladdich distillery and the impending revival of the long-closed Port Charlotte. It relates the efforts of Mark Reynier and his team of partners who made it all work, including Jim McEwan formerly of Bowmore, and their myriad adventures on the way, including the initial approaches to the multinational corporation who owned the distillery, the financial negotiations to raise the necessary capital, various unusual encounters along the way, the first new production runs of the distillery, and the battle to re-establish the brand in a competitive world marketplace.

There is a Youtube hosted video related to the book which can be seen on both the Whisky Dream book detail page on Books in Scotland or the publishers site - Birlinn - where you can place an order for it if you wish. It’s due out in July and priced at £9.99 and I’ll be reviewing it as soon as I can lay hands on a copy.

Yesterday I got a nice email from Mark Reyner over at Bruichladdich. I’d been trying to use their website contact system for a while to get in contact but had been stopped due to the system of ‘pop up’ windows that are generated when you select who you want to contact. My web development conmpany got the email for me.

Anyway part of the email I received was about the Bruichladdich Blog - I didn’t even know that they had one. It can be found at http://web.mac.com/realmalt/Site/Blog/Blog.html. They have an RSS feed here too which makes it really easy to get updates to your inbox.

Slainte

Since its purchase and reopening in 2001 the Bruichladdich distillery has been showing a healthy imagination in its marketing and a variety in the types of whisky it releases. I remember in early 2004, while touring with a theatre company in Germany, being impressed by the market penetration they had achieved in even quite small German towns, noting a few large and professional displays in wine and spirit shops.
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Just as a good whisky matures over the years so do our taste buds. My first experiences of single malts were at the age of 18, and thinking back to the types that I enjoyed then they were vastly different to those that I now favour. Back then I appreciated smoothness; the soft, sometimes almost honeyed flavours of the Speyside malts, Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie, and with Glenlivet the undoubted king. In many ways this reflected my tastes in food, which were only just branching out from a fairly bland British culinary upbringing. Just as I appreciated a good steak over a modest stew, I could recognise the quality of rich smooth malts over the rougher blends.

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