Having decided to calm things down, which sort of comes natural when one is on Islay, we leisurely cruised to the Bruichladdich shop, which we had never seen this busy outside of Feis Ile. Crammed with people going on different tours, and sadly no space for us to squeeze in. Although we have seen the inner works of Bruichladdich several times before, they have a special place in our hearts and we would like to walk around once more, just for the feel. After a chat with Mary about the past seven years or so, we purchased some liquid memories, shot some pictures from up high and said our temporary goodbyes.

We decided we will be back with our turquoise coloured friends someday during the week and continue for the moment towards Kilchoman distillery, who we knew to have expanded their distillery and visitor centre. Reason enough for WhiskySpeller to redo the tour there and see what has changed. 

Not before lunch though. We have good experience with the lunchroom at the distillery from previous visits and found out the change of the visitor centre had not affected the kitchen. With our bellies satisfied, we went on the standard tour to get some of the updates.

Katie, one of the newer members of the distillery staff, was introduced by seasoned tour guide Sharon for her inaugural tour. Notebook at hand, she guided us through fairly well while Sharon hopped along for the details Katie might have missed. 

We learned that several of the existing buildings had received a new function and the number of stills had doubled from two to four, upping their maximum spirit capacity to little over 600.000 litres per year, of which they yield about three quarters, still making them the smallest distillery of Islay. In spite of their growth, others have grown even larger, or have built a new distillery with a higher capacity from the get go. 

The tour ended – as many tours do, in one of the on-site warehouses, while the heavens opened and we were stuck for a little while between dunnage stacked casks. There are worse places to get stuck, we can tell you. The smell of Angels Share is one of the better smells on the planet, the Kilchoman variety in our favourite top five, at least.

Our delightfully slow Monday ended with a delicious homemade vegetable soup and one or two episodes of Doctor Who, which set a theme for the vacation; slow and as we see fit for that moment…

Cheers, Thomas & Ansgar