A Taste of Islay (and Jura)

Our latest whisky tasting which took place in mid October was inspired by our very own recent trip there, as we'd been fortunate enough to visit both Islay and Jura in August. Islay is a relatively small island tucked off the west coast of Scotland... although bigger than we realised! We had had visions of walking from distillery to distillery. While it's possible to easily walk between a few of them, it'd be quite a long day to walk between some others! Islay is about 40km long, and 25km wide, with a population of just over three thousand people. It’s home to nine working distilleries, with more on the way (10, if you count Port Ellen which was reopened last year but which does not yet have new stocks of whisky available). The other two new distilleries on the horizon are Laggan Bay and Portintruan Distillery. To put that in perspective, that’s about one distillery for every three hundred residents, which really isn't bad going for such a small island! Islay is a region is Scotland famous for it’s peaty whisky. Peat is essentially decomposing vegetation that’s been compressed over thousands of years in bogs. When it’s dug up and dried, it is burned as a fuel source. When distilleries burn peat to dry their malted barley, it infuses the barley with a smoky flavour. And because Islay peat is coastal, the smoke can sometimes smell and taste a little salty, or even a little medicinal.

You’ll often hear people say that Islay whiskies taste briny because they’re matured right by the sea. It’s a wonderful image, barrels breathing in salty sea air! Yet we discovered that the truth is a little less romantic. Because Islay is so small, quite a lot of Islay whisky is not actually matured on Islay. Much of it matures in warehouses on the Scottish mainland. So the maritime character of many Islay whiskies probably comes more from the peat itself than from the sea breeze supposedly circulating through warehouses while the whisky matures. Still, a little romance never hurts when you’re enjoying a dram, and there are a few Islay whiskies that are matured on the island.

Of course, not all Islay whiskies are peat monsters. Some, like Bunnahabhain or Bruichladdich, focus more on delicate fruity, floral or spicy notes instead. Part of what makes Islay so fascinating is that it has this reputation for huge, smoky flavours, but there’s also a real diversity in styles if you know where to look.

And if you ever do visit Islay, just one short ferry ride from Islay is Jura. The whiskies from Jura are often also a little smoky, but tend to be a little lighter and softer. With just one road and one distillery, and where the deer population massively outnumbers the people, this neighbouring island is well worth the visit! For our whisky tasting we only tasted 6 whiskies in total, so weren't able to sample everything the two islands have to offer... we settled on a mix of unpeated, lightly peated, and more heavily peated styles:

Bruichladdich the Classic Laddie

Bunnahabhain 12

Jura 10 Bowmore 12

Kilchoman Machir Bay Laphroaig Oak Select