Islay

Anyone who knows anything about whisky has heard of Islay, even if all you have seen of Islay whisky is in airport shops – there are seven Islay single malts, all distilled on the coast and going anticlockwise: Bruichladdich, Bowmore, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Caol Ila and Bunnahabhainn (another operation has recently started distilling at Kilchoman but it is inland and we await the first offerings). To find out all there is to know about Scottish whisky try here. For myself I just don’t like the peaty taste of Islay malts, but there is a low peat Bruichladdich called Rocks, and Isle of Jura are more my style – luckily for Islay there are a lot of people who completely disagree with my taste in whisky.

But far fewer people know where Islay is, and even fewer have actually been there. It is quite different from the other Hebridean islands, and not at all like the Highlands except in a few corners, having a character of its own – more rural, more whitewashed houses, more money around judging by the size of some of the houses, more birds although they are mostly on the land and not so much at sea, and only one castle. Like Mull and Colonsay, Islay now has its own brewery with eight ales ranging from a tolerable 3.7% to a head splitting 5.0%. This is particularly good news for Englishmen like myself brought up on proper beer, not caring at all for the standard Scottish version (there are exceptions like Caledonian IPA). Indeed, after more than 20 years living in Scotland the only thing I really miss about England is the pubs and real ale. Islay also has an annual jazz festival in September that should be worth checking out if you happen to be passing.

Although the yachtsman can anchor off every distillery except Laphroig, the best anchorage has got to be Lagavulin – the entrance is challenging and requires you to keep the ‘ulin.’ of Lagavulin in sight as you approach, you are right by the distillery and maybe on one of their two moorings, the smell is good, and you can easily walk to Ardbeg and get two distilleries for the price of one, as it were. So we will start there and work round the coast.