The Isle of Islay (pronounced "eyelya") off the coast of Scotland is hard to get to (three planes, the last one a puddle jumper) but its worth the trip, even if you don’t like single malt whisky.(There are a bunch of world famous ones here including Laphroig, Lagavalin, Ardbeg, Jura and two I can’t spell or pronounce.) Tours are fun, and so is the tasting. However, to keep this a bit to do with parking, or driving, I did run into a traffic jam yesterday. Check it out:
On my way back, I ran into (not literally, but almost) the same flock Seems the shepherd was trying to turn his flock right and an oncoming car was helping the dog (in the rear) move em back to the corner…It’s just wonderful
Here’s the shepherd with one of his border collies — where’s his crook? Probably left it in the car — There is competition these chaps go through called "A man and his dogs" He has to get a small flock of sheep together, around a couple of flags and then through a gate using only his dogs and his voice.
This was "A man and his dogs" in real life — It was great — the dog out by the car (above) was having problems so the other dog — I think it was the lead — (Below) was sent out to help. He went down past the flock, through the woods, and then came around behind and began barking and moving them. Worked great — all, by the way, with only some very strange instructions (probably in Gaelic) from the Shepherd.
Can this guy really be a "shepherd" — he has the dogs, but he uses a car and has no crook. Maybe sheepherder, or perhaps sheep farmer would be better.
I’m told that the rules here are that if you hit a sheep and there is no fence, its your fault — If you hit a sheep and there is a fence, its the farmer’s fault — and in either case, its always the sheep’s fault.
Works for me..
Friday I hit distilleries at Lagavulin and Bowmore — Lagavulin was, in fact the best tour — Off to London — more later
If you want to see what the inside of a distillery looks like, see below. As usual , you can click on the pix and make em bigger
Stills at Isle of Jura Distillery
Me at the same distillery
Its rather interesting — I have actually toured four distilleries and they are all a bit different. Its that difference, they claim, that makes the difference in the taste. The southern distilleries on Islay (Laphroig, Ardbeg, and Lagavulin) are have a very peaty and smokey taste. They also have a sea salt iodine overtaste, particularly Laphroig — The reason, their warehouses are right on the beach and when storms hit, and they do hit, trust me, the waves actually crash over the warehouses and the mist "exchanges" into the warehouse and into the casks.
Did you know that casks used to age the whisky comes from the US, and are bourbon casks. Its the bourbon that gives them the color (the bourbon that has leached into the casks when it was used to age say, Jim Beam. By the way, Jim Beam just bought Laphroig, cost $200,000,000. Not too shabby for a company that has only 18 employees.
jvh
later
J
