With nine distilleries on an island of 3,500 people, it is little surprise that whisky plays a large part in life on the Hebridean island of Islay. What you might not expect is that they even put the stuff in the soap.
Laphroaig distillery
At Spirited Soaps on Bowmore's Main Street, the shelves are filled with dram-coloured bars which are not only scented with the island's whiskies but which also incorporate some of the ingredients which go into making the prized liquid.
But the soaps are a diversion from the island's main allure. Modern methods mean that the distilleries are not big direct employers on Islay but, along with birdwatching, whisky is one of the main drivers of the island's important tourist industry.
The Islay malts and their distinctive salty, often smoky flavours seem to spark a degree of obsession among their fans that is perhaps not quite as apparent among devotees of other whiskies. As well as domestic visitors, Germans, French and, in particular, Scandinavians, like to make the pilgrimage to tour the island's distilleries and pay homage to their favourites.
The only fly in the ointment is that while the different whiskies each have their own flavour and character, the distilling process is much the same whether you are on Islay or Okinawa. Put bluntly, one distillery tour is not hugely different from another and, by the third, even the most ardent fan might find it hard to raise an interested eyebrow as yet another mash tun hoves into view.
At Laphroaig, one of three distilleries on the south of the island, they have a solution. Their recently launched Source, Peat, Malt tours step outside the 200-year-old distillery and show visitors where the elemental ingredients of the whisky come from.
The tour starts at 9am on the Atlantic shore after which the distillery was named. In Gaelic, Laphroaig means the beautiful hollow by the broad bay and, on a clear morning when the view stretches out to Ballycastle in Northern Ireland, it is easy to see how the moniker came about.
After a short drive and then stroll into the gentle hills above the distillery, the first stop is the Kilbride Dam, the source of Laphroaig's water. Arrival is celebrated with a bracing nip of the benchmark ten-year-old Laphroaig, softened, if you want, with the water used to make it.
Half the fun of the tour is getting an insider's view of both Islay and the distillery from the guide. Our guide seemed to have been at Laphroaig since Victorian times and had plenty of tales about the now banned practice of dramming the workers with their generous daily allowance of new make spirit. Suffice it to say that modern-day health and safety inspectors would not approve.
The next step of the tour takes in Laphroaig's peat bogs at wind-swept Glenmachrie. Fortified by a ten-year-old Cask Strength, I had a crack at the peat-cutting which once provided fuel for many of the islanders and is still used to dry the barley at the distillery.
As with many seemingly simple tasks, there is more to peat-cutting than meets the eye. Slicing down into the inky black mire is easy enough, but heaving the sod out of the ground and into a neat line of cut tranches is rather more back-breaking.
The distillery gets through half a tonne of peat a week and its effect is obvious in the final stage of the tour in the kiln room back at the distillery. This is where the malted barley is dried in the heat and smoke of the burning peat. I've never been in an Indian sweat lodge but I imagine that the kiln room is similar, only with less male bonding. A final dram of Laphroaig Quarter Cask helps soothe any dry throats.
The Source, Peat, Malt tour is fresh, fun and offers an unusual way for whisky lovers to get under the skin of the island and Laphroaig's whiskies. Pick a fine day and it's a great alternative to a standard distillery tour. Pick a less clement morning and you will appreciate the warm comfort of the drams all the more.
The facts Loganair flies from Glasgow to Islay seven days a week with fares from around £60 return. Book through www.flybe.com or call 0871 700 2000.
CalMac runs a daily service from Kennacraig with foot passenger returns at £12.35. Book at www.calmac.co.uk or call 0800 066 5000.
The Harbour Inn (01496 810 330, www.harbour-inn.com) offers rooms from £120 a night.
Laphroaig Source, Peat, Malt tours run every Monday and Thursday and cost £20. Pre-book on 01496 302418 or visit www.laphroaig.com
This article was first published in The Scotsman on October 31, 2009
