Paula’s Feis Ile 2010 Odyssey - Part 2

My whisky odyssey had started in Campbeltown and Springbank’s open day would be a hard act to follow on an ordinary trip but I was heading to the peat-lover’s homeland for ‘FEIS ILE’. More commonly known as Islay’s Malt and Music Festival, this is an opportunity to visit all eight distilleries on Islay and maybe [...]

Last Day on Islay - Boo!

My final day of what has been a revelatory trip to Islay. The day got off to a relaxed start with a full continental breakfast (thank you James) and a quick clean up. I felt like such a freeloader that the least I could do was stack the dishwasher and clean the table! I reluctantly left [...]

Paula on Islay: Day 3

A pretty good night’s sleep- got woken briefly by the malt lorries at 6am. Shot down to Port Ellen to get cash (again) and a thank-you present for the staff and returned to find I’d missed the morning tour - typical! Now, what to do first…Islay Ales beer festival or Bowmore open day? Where’s that map…?
Couldn’t [...]

Paula on Islay: Day 2

Paula’s Islay adventure travelogue continues today and makes our mouths water on this sunny afternoon.
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Last night was a bit miserable - cold & damp but a healthy dose of Black Bottle 10yr soon helped put matters right.
It’s 8am and I’m lying on my airbed (yes, I am a camping wuss) watching the rollers breaking on [...]

The Great Islay Adventure: Part One

Today we have a real treat for you. The first part of an amazing travelogue by our guest blogger, representative, ambasador and, above all, a great friend… the one an only, unstoppable, unpredictable, unbelievable - Miss Paula Arthur!
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The adventure began at 12am, Monday 25th May 2009. I’d had 3hrs sleep so it took me until [...]

We lost the Kilchoman auction

You may remember that the first ever bottle of Kilchoman from the first cask ever filled at the distillery (2005) was to be auctioned during Kilchoman’s open day of Islay Festival, which happened to be yesterday. Well, it was auctioned. Unfortunately our bid of £20 did not take us very far… one Niels Ladefoged outbid [...]

Islay Festival Attendance Cancellation

Islay Festival, which has started yesterday, was meant to be the highlight of the year for Chris and me.
Unfortunately an array of unforeseen circumstances led to us no longer being able to go and enjoy our stay there.
I regret to inform you, and I write this almost literally sitting on my packed bag, that neither [...]

Islay whisky coaching night… for £10

This weeks we are starting a run-up for Islay Festival. We will do a couple of warm-up tastings, a fair deal of preparation work, some shopping etc, etc, etc.
As part of accustoming our noses and palates to the Islay malts (as we feel they are not quite accustomed enough yet…) we will conduct a very [...]

Kilchoman (Cask 00001, Bottle 001)

Yeah, this is not a joke. The Kilchoman distillery on Islay will be launching its first malt on 9th September this year, but the very first bottle from the very first cask filled at the distillery in December 2005 will be auctioned on the 28th May (Thursday), during Kilchoman’s Open Day of Islay Festival. It [...]

Single Cask Caol Ila and Lagavulin for Islay Festival

Press Release from 5 May 2009:

To celebrate this year’s Islay Festival of Malt & Music on 23-30 May, Diageo is once again making available two special Festival editions of its Islay Single Malt Scotch Whiskies. These very limited editions will be available only to personal shoppers, with a limit of one bottle per person.
The first-ever [...]