Sam Holmes is crossing oceans in questionable sailing vessels (his own words). For this video he didn’t cross an ocean, just the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland. Watch his video and learn what else he did on Islay apart from eating Haggis:
Islay, haggis & whisky 🏴
After leaving Port Ellen he continued through the Sound of Islay, stopping at Bunnahabhain (and visiting Ardnahoe):
Sailing the Western Scottish isles in search of more whisky
I hope you enjoyed Sam’s adventures on and around Islay. I always enjoy the different views and perspectives you get from a sailing boat.
Settling down for a relaxing evening with a nice Islay dram or two after a busy day off the day job, busy as I was moving furniture and building a new desk from the Swedish furniture store (I now have a fancy sitting/standing desk which can be height adjusted with wizzy electric motors). But that’s not what this post is about, this post is about some of my favourite whisky glasses, these here:
Bunnahabhain new and old Islay whisky wobbly glasses (new in the centre, old on the right)
I’m not entirely sure what they are “officially” called, I call them the wobbly whisky glasses. Their bottom isn’t flat, no, it’s round, so when you set them down they wobble around, but through some clever design and a low centre of gravity they don’t fall over. Pure genius.
The one on the right is the old one, the original one. I bought that well over a decade ago, probably closer to 15 years ago. Unfortunately it’s the last one I’ve got, as the second one I had unfortunately broke a few weeks ago. Luckily I’ve now got a very worthy replacement (two actually, as I bought two during my most recent Islay visit in October 2021), the one in the centre. The design is slightly different, it’s even rounder and slightly bigger, but the most important part is just the same, the wobbly bottom.
The whisky with it is a lovely dram, the Fèis Ile 2021 Mòine Bordeaux Finish 2013, also bought during my recent visit in October 2021 with some expert help by my favourite “rubbish birder”, video weather reporter and tour guide extraordinaire (I assume you now all know who I’m talking about).
Just enjoying a wee dram of Laphroaig Cask Strength (Batch 009) Islay single malt after a few Scottish real ales (from Drygate, Harviestoun and Fyne Ales. Unfortunately Islay Ales don’t ship to the mainland at the moment) earlier. So there’s nothing better than watching a nice video from an Islay visit with plenty distillery tours in December 2019:
I hope you’ll enjoy the video as well, maybe with a wee dram or two?
It’s Saturday evening, a good time to watch a nice video from an Islay visit. Neil and Precarious Dave visited four distilleries, Bunnahabhain, Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg. They had lots of fun, drank a lot of whisky (and some Guinness) and bought quite a few bottles. Enjoy the video:
15 minutes visiting Islay distilleries
I hope you enjoyed the video, I thought it was very nicely done.
I need to share more links and web findings of Islay things I come across again. After all that’s what blogging originally was all about. So today I give you two interesting Islay whisky related links:
If I’m honest I’m not very impressed with a lot of the articles about Islay in the travel sections of many newspapers. Apart from a few exceptions they are usually written by someone who flew in for 2-3 days, did a distillery tour or two and had a few nice meals. But as I said, there are exceptions. Liza Weisstuch knows what she’s writing about. She’s been to Islay many times, I met her back in June 2011 (when she was on Islay for some real whisky experience at Bruichladdich) during one of her visits. And now she’s a got a big feature in the New York Times, online and if I understand it correctly on the cover of the travel section in the print edition next weekend. It’s called The Whisky Chronicles.
I’m not sure I can fully grasp the point of the second link for today. In my mind Islay is about slowing down, taking your time to enjoy. However, in July there will be a rather extreme whisky distillery tour on Islay and Jura:
A new ‘extreme’ whisky tour will take participants by foot, bicycle and kayak to visit 10 island distilleries over 60 miles, in just three days.
Apparently you won’t get much time to actually tour the distilleries or enjoy the samples (although you can collect the miniatures to saviour later). But if you’re still interested you can read more in WORLD’S ‘MOST EXTREME’ WHISKY TOUR LAUNCHES.
Another drone video of Islay, some nice beautiful sunny views in this one. Good views of a big surf in Machir Bay. Interesting views from under some of the old bridges, something not seen before. Enjoy:
A quick update to the Updates from the Great Islay Swim posted last week. Bruichladdich have posted a nice video from the Sound of Islay leg of the swim, taking them from McArthur’s Head lighthouse to Rhuvaal lighthouse. I’ve walked from Bunnahabhain to Rhuvaal several times, I can’t imagine swimming all that (not to mention the rest from McArthur’s Head to Bunnahabhain). Watch the swimmers in action in the sun and the rain:
Islay Sea-Adventures has a few posts with video and pictures:
And I’m sure there’s more out there. If you have or spot any further pictures, videos or reports from the swim please post them in the comments so that everyone can see them.
The Adventure Bound Bumpkins visited Islay this year and among other things went on the Laphroaig Water to Whisky tour. They documented their visit and in particular the tour on video (and wrote about it on their website), first pour yourself a wee dram and enjoy the video:
To read more here are three posts about their Islay visit:
Back in 2008 Becky walked (in stages) all the way around the coast of Islay. Today I came across a similar challenge two men are planning, although slightly wetter. About a decade ago the Islay Masters Swimming club swam across Loch Indaal from Bowmore to Bruichladdich (or was it the other way around? Not entirely sure), crossed the Sound of Islay and even tackled the famous Corryvreckan. Justin Fornal and Chad Anderson are planning an even bigger, more ambitious swim:
The Great Islay Swim. In a week in July 2017 they plan to swim all around Islay. Starting from Ardbeg they will swim clockwise around Islay in seven days. Swimming between 4-8 hours a day and covering around 15-20 kilometres per day. Pulling a whisky cask they are planning to fill with whisky from all the distilleries (similar to the Islay Pillage a number of years ago), which will later be bottled and sold. And they’re fundraising for the RNLI.
A quick update to the