It's not as easy as it seems...

This blog is now starting to get tricky.

There's clearly no point in trying to describe everything I learnt today, but it is probably worth me saying that this whisky lark is a very weird combination of chemistry, biology, art, science, nature and personality.

One the one hand, you're following the same sequence of processes every time, trying your best to ensure a completely consistent output of spirit to put into the casks. There's a huge emphasis on the consistency of the water supply from some spring up in the hills and the purity of the barley from the local farmer. On the face of it there is also a focus on temperatures, volumes, alcohol content and timings for every part of the process.

But the flip side is that in fact there is an awful lot of variation and even randomness in every part of the process. All the timings are in the staff's heads, and sometimes distractions mean that timings go slightly awry and so one batch of spirit is stronger, or weaker, than the next. The barley might start malting earlier or later depending on temperature or humidity.

It's astonishing that what comes out the other end has any consistent strength and flavour at all.

Today the forklift truck broke down so there was scary man-handling of crates of whisky onto a truck (£10,000 of single malt balanced on a pallet on the tailgate...) and the barley needs extra turning because it got a bit carried away in the warm weather over the weekend.

These seem to be typical issues faced every day, but I can't yet fully relate that artisan process and the sophisticated and expensive end product.

Anyway, by 5pm I was worn out, so I came back to the hotel, showered (the combination of alcohol and malt is a very odd smell...) and then had another of the Islay Ales and a very good dinner. Hopefully I will have more energy over the next few evenings and can spend a little more time in the bar rather than crashing on my bed at 8:30.

However, I've committed to an earlier start tomorrow: I said I would help shovel several tons of malted barley into the drying kiln.

Energy? We'll see...



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