Ferry

Took the ferry to Arran which lay hidden in shades of grey but showed a little of its colour as we approached.We have a day to explore this island, but there can be no doubt about what our first stop will be, the only distillery on Arran Island. Maybe if we ever come again we can do two distillery tours as a second distillery is in the making. Plans are underway to start building next year.

Arran distillery

First stop, of course. Isle of Arran distillery

The process of making whiskey

The water of life

Before we begin our whiskey tour let me explain where te word comes from. The Gaelic uisge beatha, has the same meaning as Latin aqua vitae. Uisge turns into usky in the 18th century. From there it is a short step to our whiskey.

Mashing malting and fermentation

There are only very few ingredients in the making of whiskey. Of course for the water of life the quality of the water used is of the utmost importance. In many a tour the guide will tell you why this or that particular water source has been chosen. More often than not the water source defines the location of a distillery. Even efore water is added you need barley.

Barley has to be malted. Take a moment to imagine all the discussions one can have on the quality of Barley, where it is grown, how it is fertilized, whether it is fertilized. Which strain to, whether to do the malting yourself or whether to outsource this part of the process use etc etc.So, before anything happens a lot of decisions will have to be made before you can start malting.

Malting

I’ll imagine that you have a good quality of barley. This is then soaked in water. Again you decide which water, which temperature, how long. After you steep the barley in water you spread it out on the malting floors to germinate. Yo must turn it every so often because the germination process generates heat.

Why do you need a germination process you might ask. Well, during the germination process enzymes are activated which convert the starch from inside the barley kernels into sugar. when mashing takes place. After 6 to 7 days of germination the barley, now called green malt, goes to the kiln for drying. This halts the germination. The heat is kept below 70°C so that the enzymes are not destroyed. Peat may be added to the fire to impart flavour from the smoke.

Take care:

No slap an tickle o’ the wenches !

Then it was over the hills and further away.