Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'BANKSIE, WHAT'S THIS
about you writing a book about whisky?'
'It's true. They're going to pay me to drive round Scotland, or be driven round Scot-
land … whatever, visiting distilleries and drinking whisky.'
'So it wasn't a joke?'
'No, not a joke.'
'And you're sure it's not a dream you've, like, mistaken for reality?'
'Definitely. I have a signed contract. Want to hear it rustle?'
'Just wanted to be sure. So, you'll be wanting help with this …'
The first signpost you see coming off the ferry at Port Ellen on Islay has only two words
on it; it points right to ARDBEG and left to BOWMORE. Brilliant, I thought; a road sign
that is made up 100 per cent of distillery names; a proclamation that you are on an island
where the making of whisky is absolutely integral to the place itself, where directions are
defined by drink!
This was, patently, a great place to start the distillery tour. I love Islay whiskies. There
are seven working distilleries on the island - pretty good given that there are less than
three thousand people on the place - each producing their own distinctive whiskies, and I
have a deep affection for all of them. I have favourites amongst those seven basic malts,
but they're basically all in my top twenty Scotches. This may, I suppose, change over the
course of the next two or three months as I visit distilleries throughout Scotland and taste
whiskies I've only ever heard of before (and in a few cases, never heard of before), but I
doubt it'll make that much difference; it's hard to believe there are tastes as dramatic as
the Islay malts that have somehow escaped the attention of me and my pals.
The reason I've taken to them so much is, I suppose, that Islay whiskies are just gen-
erally bursting with flavour. Actually, make that bursting with flavours, plural. I came to
the realisation many years ago that I like big, strong, even aggressive tastes: cheddars so
sharp they make your eyes water, curries in general, though preferably fairly hot, Thai
meals, garlic-heavy Middle-Eastern mezes, chilli-saturated Mexican dishes, hugely fruity
Ozzie wines, and thumpingly, almost aggressively flavoured whiskies (for the record the
things I don't like are: Brussels sprouts, marzipan, cherries and Amaretto. Plus one other
category of foodstuff that we'll come to later … it's a bit embarrassing).
Distinguishing between the different styles of Islays, the most obvious micro-area lies
in the south, on the short stretch of coast - extravagantly frayed, wildly indented, pro-
