The Laddie Letter, the distillery news letter, will provide you with some idea of the day to day goings on at the distillery – as well as some more meaty news.
Port Charlotte PC5 Evolution, Blacker Still Cask Strength, The Duke of
Edinburgh's Award Limited Edition, 125 Anniversary Bottling, Celtic Nations,
Links V Royal Liverpool "Hoylake" , Rocks, WMDII, INFINITY II, Legacy Series
Five
Order Here
Port
Charlotte!
The first entirely new Islay whisky is launched today - the re-awakening of the long-lost soul of an extinct distillery. A great moment in the History of Bruichladdich. ‘PC5 Evolution’ is the first ever release of Port Charlotte single malt whisky, the heavily peated whisky that is distilled, matured and bottled at Bruichladdich on the Isle of Islay. It is the first single malt to be released that we distilled in 2001 following the renovation of the distillery. It is indeed a proud moment for all of us here. From records we know that Bruichladdich spirit was influenced by peat - to some degree at least - before 1961. We wanted to see what the 1881 whisky was like. We called it Port Charlotte to differentiate it from Bruichladdich which is minimally peated. At the same time, it is paying homage, a doffing of the cap, to the old Port Charlotte distillery two miles down the road that closed owing to Prohibition in 1929.
Dram Good Growth
Bruichladdich is now the fastest growing single malt distillery brand in the world recently released figures from the Scotch Malt Whisky Industry Review 2006 confirm. The Annual review, published by stockbrokers Charles Stanley put Bruichladdich as the 27th biggest selling single malt distillery brand worldwide and 16th in the UK. There are 85 distilleries in production. Not bad for such a small, private company that only started five years ago, especially one that does not sell to the big markets such as Duty Free etc., has minimalist marketing budget, and a sales team of just three! Expect a higher ranking when 2005 figures are released next year.
The Mayor Of Islay
We
were extremely delighted to receive the visit from Miguel Roman - the Mayor of
Islay Peru. Most folk doubted the existence of the Islay "doppelganger" - a twin
Islay from the opposite side of the planet. United once geologically, the Rhinns
of Islay and the Arequipa coast of Peru have more than the same amazingly
ancient Gneiss rock origin in common. They share the same name of Islay too.
Surely the most extraordinary of coincidences! Research by MD Mark Reynier
uncovered the spooky set of affairs while investigating the origin of the
immensely pure Spring water used for bottling Bruichladdich - the only single
malt to be bottled on the Island of Islay... Why were the Rhinns of Islay, home
of Bruichladdich, three times older than the rest of the Island - and the oldest
rock in the Scotch Whisky industry? They were once part of Peru.
Click here for more details.
Islay
Festival (Feis Ile) 2006
Another cracking day in Laddie Land! The best festival day yet took place in
glorious Islay sunshine as usual. An air display by the Bruichladdich
Drambusters in their Yak aircraft over Lochindaal provided a fitting start to
the day. Chairman Sir John Mactaggart gave the speech of welcome to the 1000
strong crowd of mainly islanders and whisky fans all out to enjoy the special
Islay "Craic" - that magic atmosphere of social conviviality.
Your Shout
We think it is important that there is a sensible frank discussion on various matters relating to the world of whisky. Unfortunately our experience is that there is a good deal of ‘propaganda’ put out there by either ill informed or deliberately misleading bodies, eager to stifle debate for commercial reasons. If you have any views that you would like to make on any of these subjects, or any others, do please feel free to add your comments here