Bruichladdich
Encyclopedia
Scotch whisky
Scotch whisky is whisky made in Scotland.Scotch whisky is divided into five distinct categories: Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Single Grain Scotch Whisky, Blended Malt Scotch Whisky , Blended Grain Scotch Whisky, and Blended Scotch Whisky.All Scotch whisky must be aged in oak barrels for at least three...
distillery on the Rhinns of the isle of Islay
Islay
-Prehistory:The earliest settlers on Islay were nomadic hunter-gatherers who arrived during the Mesolithic period after the retreat of the Pleistocene ice caps. In 1993 a flint arrowhead was found in a field near Bridgend dating from 10,800 BC, the earliest evidence of a human presence found so far...
. It is one of eight distilleries on the island, and until the recent opening of Kilchoman
Kilchoman
The Kilchoman Distillery is a distillery that produces single malt Scotch whisky on Islay, an island of the Inner Hebrides. The distillery is situated on the western side of Islay, near the small settlement of Kilchoman...
farm distillery, the only independent
Independent business
In business, an independent business as a term of distinction generally refers to privately owned companies . Independent businesses most commonly take the form of sole-proprietorships...
one.
It was featured in an episode of the BBC2 series Oz and James Drink to Britain
Oz and James Drink to Britain
Oz and James Drink to Britain is a BBC television series in which wine writer Oz Clarke and motor journalist James May travel through Britain and Ireland to discover the array of available alcoholic drinks...
, in which they were given a tour of the distillery and allowed to try some of the prized 'X4', quadruple-distilled Perilous Whisky, of which Martin Martin wrote in 1695 "the first taste affects all the members of the body; two spoonfuls of this last liquor is a sufficient dose; and if any man exceed this, it would presently stop his breath, and endanger his life. The BBC presenters used the ultra pure spirit to run a Radical racing car.
One interpretation of the Gaelic word Bruichladdich is "stony shore bank", referring to a post glacial raised beach, though an alternative, perhaps more pertinent translation may be "rocky lee shore". Normally pronounced brook-lad-dee, or by some Gaelic speakers as broo-ee-clah-dee (depending on accent), it incorporates a specific, localised soft pronunciation of the Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....
ch element.
History
Bruichladdich was built in 1881 by the Harvey brothers—William (32), John (31) and Robert (23)—on the shore of Loch IndaalLoch Indaal
Loch Indaal is a sea loch on the island of Islay, the southernmost of the Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland. Together with Loch Gruinart to the north, it was formed by the Loch Gruinart Fault, which branches off the Great Glen Fault.Along the northwestern coast are the villages of...
, on the Rinns of Islay
Rinns of Islay
The Rinns of Islay is an area on the west of the island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland....
, the westernmost part of the island. The Harveys were a dynastic whisky family that had owned two Glasgow distilleries since 1770. Using an inheritance, the three brothers combined their talents to build a third distillery—Bruichladdich—designed by John, engineered by Robert, and financed by William and other family members. At the time, the distillery was a state-of-the-art
State of the art
The state of the art is the highest level of development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field, achieved at a particular time. It also refers to the level of development reached at any particular time as a result of the latest methodologies employed.- Origin :The earliest use of the term...
design unlike Islay's older distilleries which had developed from old farm buildings. It was built from stone from the seashore and has a very efficient layout, built around a large, spacious courtyard.
The uniquely tall and narrow-necked stills were chosen to produce a very pure and original spirit, the opposite of the styles produced by the older farm distilleries. Bruichladdich was run by William Harvey, after a bust up with his brothers before the distillery was even completed, until a fire in 1934 and his death in 1936. Over the next forty years it subsequently changed owners several times thanks to corporate take-overs and rationalisation of the industry, narrowly avoiding closure until 1994, when it was shut down as being 'surplus to requirements'.
Fortunately it was saved, purchased by a group of private investors led by Mark Reynier of Murray McDavid
Murray McDavid
Murray McDavid is an independent bottler of single malt Scotch whisky. Its bottlings are usually diluted-strength , and blended from multiple casks . They are not chill-filtered, nor do they have any coloring added.Murray McDavid was established in 1996...
on 19 December 2000. Jim McEwan, who had worked at Bowmore Distillery
Bowmore Single Malt
Bowmore is a distillery that produces scotch whisky on the isle of Islay, an island of the Inner Hebrides. The distillery, which lies on the South Eastern shore of Loch Indaal, is one of the oldest in Scotland and is said to have been established in 1779. The distillery is owned by Morrison...
since the age of 15, was hired as Production Director. Between January and May 2001 the whole distillery was dismantled and reassembled, with the original Victorian décor and equipment retained. Having escaped modernisation, most of the original Harvey machinery is still in use today.
Today
The distillery still uses the original 'open' 7 tonne mashtun—the only one on the island, and one of only a handful still in existence. There are six pine wood washbacks (together, 210,000 litres). There are two wash stills (together 23,000 litres), two unusually tall (6 metre) and narrow-necked (0.9m) spirit stills (together 21,000 litres), and since 2010 the last authentic Lomond still; all are heated by steam.All barley used is exclusively Scottish, grown on 23 different farms, each kept separate from barley to barrel (and since 2010 — to bottle). Since 2004, Islay grown barley is once again used (2010: 1,000 tonnes) on 14 island farms with the rest (2010: 1,000 tonnes) coming from 8 mainland Scotland farms and one in Orkney. Organically grown Scottish barley represents between 30 and 40% of the annual requirements. Around 8 different types of barley are grown including heritage varieties such as the ancient Viking 'Bere'. Primarily, the barley used for Bruichladdich is unpeated (3 ppm) though peated versions (40 ppm) do exist under the Port Charlotte sub brand. Bruichladdich also produces 'the most heavily peated Single Malt Whisky in the world'—Octomore (at 80, 130, 141 and 152 ppm). Bruichladdich Distillery has the island's only bottling hall.
All bottlings are 100% natural, non chill-filtered
Chill filtering
Chill filtering is a method in whisky making for removing residue. In chill filtering, whisky is cooled to between -10 and 4 degrees Celsius and passed through a fine adsorption filter...
, colouring-free, bottled at 46% or cask strength on the isle of Islay. There have been a wide number of small scale bottlings.
In production, no computers are used, apart from in the offices and to run a series of 8 webcams. These webcams were the focus of an intelligence operation by the (American) Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency is an agency within the United States Department of Defense and is the official Combat Support Agency for countering weapons of mass destruction . DTRA's main functions are threat reduction, threat control, combat support, and technology development...
when its antique distilling equipment was mistaken for that purportedly used for Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
's elusive chemical weapons. This story has roots in an e-mail sent by an American agent to the distillery when one of the webcams had broken. A limited run of commemorative WMD bottles were released in honour of the story, while a second WMD bottling, Yellow Submarine, was issued when an Islay fisherman found a MoD
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
submarine ROV
Remotely operated vehicle
A remotely operated vehicle is a tethered underwater vehicle. They are common in deepwater industries such as offshore hydrocarbon extraction. An ROV may sometimes be called a remotely operated underwater vehicle to distinguish it from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the air. ROVs...
, and a minor farcical affair ensued.
Since 2009, Bruichladdich is distributed in the UK by Blavod Wines and Spirits plc
Blavod
Blavod is an 80-proof black vodka distilled in the United Kingdom. It is marketed on the liquor's unique black color that derives from Black Catechu, ie extracts from the heartwood of Burmese catechu acacia trees. Such additives reportedly don't interfere with the characteristics of the vodka,...
and is now found in a number of leading supermarkets.
In 2011, the distillery started production of gin
Gin
Gin is a spirit which derives its predominant flavour from juniper berries . Although several different styles of gin have existed since its origins, it is broadly differentiated into two basic legal categories...
.
In Popular Culture
In the 1990 BBC television production of the political thriller House of CardsHouse of Cards
House of Cards is a 1990 political thriller television drama serial by the BBC in four parts, set after the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was televised from 18 November to 9 December 1990, to critical and popular acclaim...
, Chief Whip Francis Urquhart
Francis Urquhart
Francis Ewan Urquhart is a fictional character created by Michael Dobbs. A Conservative politician, he appeared in a trilogy of novels: House of Cards in 1989, To Play the King in 1992 and The Final Cut in 1995...
offers reporter Mattie Storin a glass of Bruichladdich when she arrives for an interview. "Bruichladdich, if you know your malts."
In the 2010 film Morning Glory
Morning Glory (2010 film)
Morning Glory is a 2010 American comedy-drama film directed by Roger Michell, produced by J.J. Abrams and written by Aline Brosh McKenna. It stars Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Patrick Wilson and Jeff Goldblum. After some delays, the film was released in the United States on November...
, Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
's character Mike Pomeroy drinks Bruichladdich.
See also
- Islay whiskyIslay whiskyIslay whisky is Scotch whisky made on Islay or Ìle in Gaelic, the southernmost of the Inner Hebridean Islands located off the west coast of Scotland. There are eight active distilleries on the island, as of early 2008, with a ninth being made ready for production...
- WhiskyWhiskyWhisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and corn...
- Scotch whiskyScotch whiskyScotch whisky is whisky made in Scotland.Scotch whisky is divided into five distinct categories: Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Single Grain Scotch Whisky, Blended Malt Scotch Whisky , Blended Grain Scotch Whisky, and Blended Scotch Whisky.All Scotch whisky must be aged in oak barrels for at least three...
- List of whisky brands
- List of distilleries in Scotland