Laddie Machrie Minis

Miniatures of ten year old Bruichladdich made for The Machrie Hotel around ten years ago featuring a ringtail Hen harrier. They are quite unusual now and were given as gifts to folk attending INHT 'Welcome to Islay' evenings during the summer.  Whisky afficionados will appreciate that this is ten year old Bruichladdich from the 'ancien regime' that is non-chill filtered and bottled at 46%.

Barley harvest - Mark Unsworth

Mark took this shot of Neil MacLellan combining feed barley at Kentraw last week, before the weather closed in.  It has been several days now since it was dry enough to get machines on the land or have the grain dry enough to harvest. The deer, geese, rock doves and rooks are enjoying this, but it is a nerve wracking delay for the farmers.
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Thalassa

The Dutch tallship Thalassa in Loch Indaal at the weekend - visiting the Bruichladdich Distillery Open Day.

Tallship Thalassa

Coull barley

Barley showing well on sandy fields at Coull farm near Ballinaby.  Donald and Andrew Jones have planted  forty acres of malting barley for Bruichladdich Distillery.

A little bit of Bruichladdich in Ghana

Peter Roberts bought a barrel of Bruichladdich when the distillery reopened in 2001. The spirit was put into a fresh sherry cask on September 19th 2001 and bottled 10 years later on September 23rd 2011. His label features one of our iconic ...Islay birds, the Chough. Peter, who lives close to the distillery, tells us: "The whisky is absolutely gorgeous, and it is one of life's little perks and delights to have so much of it that I can take a bottle with me on my travels guiding people on worldwide birdwatching tours - just in case there is a need for a special celebration.

 "I recently arranged a tour to Ghana for a group of eleven of us including my partner Pia - all keen birdwatchers prepared to put up with the intense heat and humidity of West African tropical forests, the dodgy accommodation, poor roads and boring food in order to find amongst a good range of interesting birds ("interesting" for a birdwatcher anyway!) 1-2 very special species. One of our "target birds" for this tour was the Rockfowl or Picathartes.
"The Rockfowl is up there in top eschelons of rare, obscure and "must see" birds for keen birdwatchers. They make swallow-like mud-cup nests on rock faces within remote forests, gaining them "mythical" status to the cognescenti - and definitely something worth celebrating once seen.

 "My group (including one man in his 80s) hiked about an hour and half into the forest with excellent guides from the local village. Soaked in sweat, we sat still and quiet as dusk fell to await the Rockfowl's return to the overhanging rocks where they roost. We were not disappointed. We had great views of five of these bizarre, lanky, black and white birds with bald heads (see photo).

 "After the exhilaration of finally seeing this creature, we stumbled back through the forest in the dark and drove a couple of hours to our hotel for the night. This was exactly the special occasion that warranted the enjoyment of a bottle of my own 10 year old Bruichladdich Single Malt!"

 

Dotty's Well

Dotty's Well today.  The well is actually a concrete sleeve driven deep into the rock, actually a fault between the ancient gneiss and green sandstone, from which a spring emerges.  This provided the beautiful water supply to Port Charlotte until relatively recently.  When progress in the form of the current station intervened, the well was forgotten, by pretty much everyone except James Brown on whose land it resides.  He took me to it in 1997, while Bruichladdich was shut and long before the renaissance, but it had been covered by landslip.  I returned with a spade, and dug the hill back, finding the spring exactly where James said it would be.  The well itself was covered with a concrete slab, but digging the hill back and moving the slab had made the water muddy.  We returned again a few weeks later, with our families and some empty lemonade bottles.  The water was absolutely delicious.  When Bruichladdich opened again, they were looking for a source of great water...  Dotty passed every test the authorities asked of her, and now she has a nice little path down and a little shed to protect her.  It's still the same concrete sleeve though.  Still the same great water....

'Welcome to Islay' evenings in the Laddieshop - Bruichladdich

Dates of INHT "Welcome to Islay" evenings

Our"Welcome to Islay" evenings in the Laddieshop at Bruichladdich Distillery will be held on April 2nd, May 7th, June 4th, July 2nd, August 6th and September 3rd.

Grey seal pup photographed on an Islay beach.

The programme will vary from week to week, but our visitors and guests can expect a selection from piper James McEachern, the Ella Edgar Highland Dancers, Gaelic singing from Grahame Allison, trad music from Eilidh and Ciara and short introductions to island history and wildlife from the Museum of Islay Life, the RSPB and the INHT.

Doors will open at 6.30 and the evenings will usually last for about an hour and a half.  There will be a small entrance fee that will include a wee dram courtesy of our hosts at Bruichladdich.  We look forward to seeing you there....

The Ella Edgar Highland Dancers

Bruichladdich Distillery to host INHT "Welcome to Islay" evenings

'The Botanist' - a gin distilled at Bruichladdich with an infusion of 22 Islay botanicals has proved a big hit since its launch little over a year ago.  You can visit 'The Botanist' Facebook page on https://www.facebook.com/thebotanistgin?sk=wall

The Trust is to hold a series of six 'Welcome to Islay' evenings this year, following on from the three held last year in the most convivial surroundings of the "Laddieshop".

The informal evenings have traditionally featured piping, singing, Highland dancing and a series of short presentations about the island's natural history and wildlife.  We are delighted that Bruichladdich have once again offered to host the events.