Neil Wilson - The Island Whisky Trail

AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO

THE HEBRIDEAN DISTILLERIES

NEIL WILSON

First published in 2003 by

The Angels Share is an imprint of

Neil Wilson Publishing

www.nwp.co.uk

Neil Wilson, 2003, 2013

The author asserts his moral right under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the Author of this Work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Print edition ISBN: 978-1-903238-49-3

Ebook ISBN: 978-906476-87-8

All maps by Rob and Rhoda Burns, Drawing Attention

Illustrations on by Doreen Shaw

PICTURE CREDITS:

Allan Wright:

Allied Distillers: Rear cover (middle left)

Bruichladdich Distillery:

Chris Marais, Main Line Media: Front cover, rear cover (upper left),

Christine Spreiter: Rear cover (right, lower left), ix,

Diageo Archive:

Duncan & Wendy Graham:

Eric Thorburn: (upper)

Freda Ramsay: (upper)

Glenmorangie plc:

Graham Fraser:

Kyndal Spirits Ltd:

Len Paterson:

Morrison Bowmore Distillers:

National Galleries of Scotland: (inset)

Neil Wilson:

Robbie Porteous:

RCAHMS:

Shirley Swart & Gerhard Smit:

Steve Johnston:

Tony Riley-Smith:

The Jean de la Lune heads up the Sound of Mull to Tobermory

I N COMMENCING an adventure such as this, the people with whom I became involved in all sorts of ways build up at a staggering rate. In 1985, the first edition of Scotch and Water listed a whos who of the whisky industry along with West Coast worthies, fellow writers and locals from Islay, Jura, Mull and Skye. Today, the list is just as extensive but in revisiting the original theme of the book, I have been fortunate to have been given a great deal of help from Diageo and Dr Nicholas Morgan in particular. His office has been a source of invaluable help, fantastically managed by Lucy Pritchard and the rest of the Classic Malts team including Elaine Bailey and Estelle Rourke who are central in maintaining a sense of order during the Classic Malts Cruise!

The island distilleries are great ambassadors for Scottish hospitality and I owe thanks to all the staff at every Hebridean distillery for their time and efforts on my behalf. Thanks also to the crew of the Jean de la Lune: skipper John Reid, his wife Jemma, along with Keith, Bill and Sue and fellow scribe Chris Marais and the Diageo South African contingent of Gerhard Smit and Shirley Swart.

Along the way I have received a considerable amount of help with illustrations and primary research. Graham Fraser of Stirling, an amateur whisky historian who contacted me over two years ago, had been researching the lost distilleries of Islay, an area I had barely touched upon in Scotch and Water. With his help I have been able to pull together more information on these concerns and I am indebted to Grahams professional research and the availability of his picture archive. Murdo Macdonald, archivist at the Argyll and Bute District Archives remains much as he was when I first contacted him some 20 years ago a first-class source of information, a fine fellow and someone who is always able to put his head round the door and mutter, This just might be of interest as another revealing source is brought to light. Angus Martin of Campbeltown has revealed so much of the domestic patterns of life and work in the rural communities of Kintyre in the 18th and 19th centuries and the published work of Ian Macdonald of Clachan and Lochgilphead and Dr IA Glen has been invaluable. Alwyn Edgar shed much new light on Hugh MacAskill of Talisker who was responsible for some of the clearances in Bracadale, Skye. His forthcoming 12-volume work on the Clearances is sure to create a huge amount of interest in the subject.

Frank Bigwoods series The Argyll Courts has been a godsend as these meticulous records have been culled from the county court records in the keeping of the National Archives of Scotland. Available in searchable CD-rom format, they are an essential requirement for anyone looking for information on Argyll between 1684 and the late 19th century. Contact WFL Bigwood, The Lodge, 2 East Road, North Berwick EH39 4HN (e-mail: ).

Christine Spreiter, the resident photographer on the Classic Malts Cruise, has allowed me access to all of the images she has captured over the last four years. I am grateful to her for the use of her fabulous pictures.

Rob and Rhoda Burns have produced clear and ).

Marine Society artist tutor Lincoln Rowe and yours truly tailing a halyard on the Alystra, Sound of Jura, 1984.

Christine McCafferty and her staff at the Diageo Archive in Menstrie are light years ahead of what used to pass as the companys archives in the early 1980s. Dr Nicholas Morgan deserves great credit for having had the foresight to bring together the archival material of the former UDV spirits brands and those of Grand Metropolitan under one roof. Now, if you have a genuine research interest in whisky, a pre-arranged visit to Menstrie is all that is required to look over the vast amount of catalogued and filed resource dealing with almost every aspect of the Scotch whisky industry in the last 100 years.

As always my thanks are due to the Ramsays of Kildalton and in particular to the late Mrs Freda Ramsay who managed to maintain many of her grandfather-in-laws papers pertaining to distilling and estate matters on Islay. Without Fredas help and generosity, this book and its predecessor, Scotch and Water, would never have happened.

Above all it is always a pleasure to travel to the islands off Scotlands West Coast and revel in their unique atmosphere. As I write this in the third week of March 2003 looking out over the Clyde in Glasgow, with weeks of fair weather behind and the promise of more to come, I can feel the call of the islands drawing me back. To each and every one of the islanders whom I have met and worked with over the years, I thank you and envy you your special place in the world.

Neil Wilson

Laphroaig stillhouse reflections

O VER THE LAST 20 YEARS the popularity of single malt Scotch whisky has advanced at a rate that has far exceeded every other category in the Scotch whisky trade. Part and parcel of that appeal has been the fact that single malt Scotch whisky is the product of one distillery in essence malt whisky distilleries are to the whisky world what the bodega is to Spanish sherry and the chateau to French wine. A single malt is a premier cru the product of its own locality and the people who craft it.

This quality is what first drew me to the Hebrides of Scotland in the early 1980s when I searched out the island drams, their histories and the people who made them. I chartered the 38ft steel ketch