We left Oban early to catch the 9:45 ferry from Kennicraig to Islay. It was only about 60 miles if that, but the road is so twisty it takes us 1.5 hours to get to the port. Along the way we saw two red deer stags, almost the size of the coastal elk in California. The road goes around still lakes and ocean inlets, through fir forests, with high hills on all sides.
We are on the state subsidized Caledonian MacBrayne ferry (CalMac) which is the only lifeline to these outer Hebrideas Islands. There are trucks full of all the supplies for the islanders, and a handful of cars scattered among them. The ferry has five decks, plus the captain's steering area (bridge?) above all that. There is a full restaurant lounge, a café bistro lounge (I am there now, drinking a cappuccino and writing before heading out on deck to look for whales), a sitting and kids' play area, a luxury recliner chair lounge, a TV area, and then five different seating areas outside. This is a big ship. This is a great way to travel.
It is a 2.5 hour crossing to Islay; we should arrive in time to drop off Buddy and walk to the Ardbeg Distillery for the 14:00 tasting. Ot is a special tasting, every Tuesday, and you get to taste ten, twenty, thirty and forty year old single malt. This is why we came to Islay. After that we plan to walk the three miles back to town, stopping at two other distilleries along the way: Lagavulin and then Laphroaig. So we passed the slow hours sitting out on the deck of the ship, soaking up the sun with the Scotts. Everyone was putting on shorts, flip flops, unbuttoning shirts and taking off sweaters, for this is Scotland after all, and we all started dressed for a storm. I kicked off my shoes, reading, barefoot and shirt half opened, lulled into laziness by the throbbing of the engines. I looked up to see the return ferry passing on our left; small islands floated by, some with lighthouses; a whale came to the surface and hung there a while; birds bobbing up and down in our wake; the sky blue and cloudless, fading to sliver where it met the light blue water. We are just really lucky to have this weather for the crossing, and I have great hopes for today on the island.
I finished my fourth book, The Yellow Birds, a powerful book about the war in Iraq, by Kevin Powers. Now I am on to a brilliantly funny book by David Sedaris, Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim.
Coming to Islay I could see the three distilleries right down on the shore as we passed, their names painted in huge black letters on the white sheds.
Well, we disembarked the ship and it was one minute to our B&B. Port Ellen is a very small town. Two restaurants, a small Spar (7-11), one grocery co-op, and of all the crazy things, one Baptist church. Think about it. The big business on Islay is whisky. Who on the world attends a Baptist church on an island where everybody works for the distilleries? We talked with our hostess, Mary, then headed out three miles to Ardbeg.
Ardbeg. Up till now my favorite single malt. Well, all the tours were full for today. Not just the special decades tasting, but all the tours. I explained we had come from California, made a special trip here just for this (about sixty miles out of our way, plus the ferry and B&B costs) and besides, as a loyal Arbeg buyer and committee member, not to mention I had emailed them back in March when I set this part of the trip up... Fowkin' MARCH and they hadn't replied, not to mention the email I sent last week... and the tours are all full? I asked to speak to the supervisor, and waited a half hour just to be told by the same kid at the register that nothing could be done. Well, I have to tell you I was NOT happy. You know how there are those things you set up or plan, and then anticipate doing? This was one of those things. Suddenly I am not so much of an Ardbeg fan.
What to do?
So we headed back down the road to Laphroaig (say Lah froig) where we were welcomed with open arms, and free tastings of five of their whiskies. Free. Really. They also had a special food and whisky pairing at 15:30, would we like to attend? (Yes, duh!) And, by the way, here is a free (mini size) bottle of our most popular, ten year old scotch...
All this and we had just wandered in. OK, so I wanted to compare others to Ardbeg, and suddenly I was quickly becoming a fan.
We signed up for the food tasting, and went up the road to Lagavulin. Another warm welcome, and sure, they have a 17:30 tour.
So we zipped back to our guesthouse, made a 19:30 reservation at one of the restaurants, dropped Buddy off and hitched a ride back out to Laphroaig with Mary.
We started with a ten year old Original Cask Strength whisky. It tasted powerful, smoke and peat, with a bite at end. Then we tried Triple Wood, which is aged in three different casks. It is full flavored, smooth, with no bite and slight smoke and peat flavor. We walked into a private tasting room with two other people and our whisky guide. We started with the standard, ten year old whisky, paired with stilton (blue) cheese. That was an amazing taste combination. Gail, who is really not a scotch or strong cheese fan, loved it. The next pairing was the Half Cask, small barrel mix of 5-11 year old whisky, with an orange slice. Neither of us liked this at all, not straight or with the orange. Finally, we tried an 18 year old paired with good dark dark chocolate. That was pretty good, but the ten year with blue cheese was best.
We walked a mile up to Lagavulin where we took the tour. We got to eat some malted barley, and taste the wort out of the yeast barrel. After the tour we tried Distiller Edition Double Cask, the "sweety and peaty" whisky, and the Standard sixteen year bottle. Both were too harsh for us, though they were better cut with water.
It's a two mile walk back to Port Ellen, but it was a warm evening. We both agreed that the Edradour whisky from the small distillery we visited A couple days ago was best, but that Laphroaig made today into a fun day anyway. That blue cheese idea is worth exploring when we get home. As we come into town we walk past the elementary school; the design looks just like a distillery, of course. It is the equivalent of a K-8 school in the states. Mary wanted to further her education, so she had to go live in Oban and attend high school there, coming home only on holidays. Many of the townspeople only attend through eighth grade, then go to work.
We had a really nice, slow dinner at The Islay Hotel. Gail ordered sea trout, which came with an interesting and delicious potato that was layered with cheese. I had the special seafood medley, which included lobster, oyster, fresh sweet scallops, langoustine and haddock... and, of course, a generous chunk of Gail's sea trout! We walked out of the restaurant about two and a half hours later and into the cold, foggy night.