Today, we take the automobile, keen not to repeat yesterday's frustrations with the bus. Driver's drams are provided everywhere anyway. The journey is short. We park and go straight to the shop, which is much more bearable than yesterday.
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| En route to the shop, we meet this |
We complete the collection and are made to sample a few interesting things (for confirmation, you understand). In come MR and Mr. MR, her fabled husband. They have been married for a couple of years, and we have not yet met him. He actually exists. With that running gag out of the way, we all join JL and CH on the grass outside. Mr. MR came in last night from Glasgow, and is the welcome bearer of Tantrum Doughnuts. Seeing as we ran out last night, needless saying he is our hero. They are for JL's birthday, however, so we (I) must exercise some restraint. Etiquette and all that. Fortunately, there are drams to take my mind off them. Short notes; the setting is not exactly adapted.
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| Like most distilleries it seems, Lochranza is home to songthrushes |
Lochranza 9yo 2015/2025 (57.1%, Jewish Whisky Company Single Cask Nation, 1st Fill Sherry Hogshead, C#153118, 316b) (CH)
Mouth: spicy cola, a mix of caramel and Kola Kubes.
Finish: big, boisterous, overflowing with spicy cola.
Comment: as often stated, the thing with Arran is that there is no real dud, once we skip the "creative" early finishes. 7/10
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| Devil's the avocado is enjoying himself too |
Islay (unknown ABV, unknown bottler, ex-Glenfarclas Cask) (CH)
Mouth: earthy prunes indeed, topped with liquorice shavings and smoked clay.
Finish: long, warm.
Comment: from a blind hipflask and no bottling details, this alleged Kilchoman is perfect, here on the lawn. 7/10
JS once more brings back the goods from the barbecue. It is regular burgers only, today: despite lunchtime being less than an hour in the rear-view mirror (it is 13:37), they are out of vegetarian options, or indeed everything else. Seems like a miscalculation, but what does tOMoH know?
On my way to try and catch someone (I forget whom), I interrupt a conversation, one part of which is pouring Isle of Arran 10yo b.2012 (55.7%, OB for Spirit of Stirling Whisky Festival, 156b, b#128) talk about an exclusive drop! 7/10
Once more, everyone present is gathered in the tent for a "special event" at 14:29. We cross fingers that it is more eventful than yesterday's underwhelm...
After a moment or two, Euan Mitchell rises to the stage and delivers a speech to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of this here distillery.
EM: "People have travelled from all over the world: Belgium, Taiwan, Shiskine…"
He then hands over to Campbell Laing (remember him from yesterday?) who wrote a poem for the occasion and reads it.
Following on comes Stewart Bowman, Distillery Manager at Lochranza, who concocted a dram for this moment. He clears the air immediately: there is no thirty-year-old stock (the first distillation would turn thirty tomorrow), so he opted to blend juices from 1995, 2005 and 2015. That makes the sample we all received a 9yo or 10yo whisky, in other words. The speeches fall a bit short, in terms of time, so there is a funny gap before we count down to 14:29, the precise time the spirit flowed for the first time, in 1995. When we reach zero, we try the whisky. I take no notes (what is the point? It is not otherwise available and there is no other information about it, not even an ABV), but I rate it 8/10.
Finally, a clearly-nervous Duncan Ritchie of Royal Conservatoire of Scotland introduces and plays his tune The Road to Lochranza, which he wrote for the occasion (and for the accordion). A good tune it is too!
It becomes clear that this this 14:29 climax signalled the informal end of the festival. I try to catch Ritchie to laud his tune, but he disappears like a jet-setter. adc, JS and I decide to make a move. MR explains she is stuck until the bus: someone else drove her, this morning. She has to take the car, but she left her keys where she is staying. Not to worry! We drive off to Brodick, where we drop off MR and Mr. MR. From there, we continue to Lamlash, where adc want to see a monument to the clearances from a closer distance. The weather is so nice we spend a while on the seafront, watching the ballet of gannets fishing.
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| They are easy to recognise in good weather: they glow in the sun |
Comes the time to return to Brodick for a nap.
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| With a halt at the imaginatively-named Viewpoint Carpark |
This evening, we have a reservation at the Douglas Hotel where we join old and new friends for dinner.
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| One brought this that we will never try |
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| Moules Marinières (adc) |
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| Falafel Burger (JS) |
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| Seafood Korma (me) |
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| We also destroy a plate of dirty fries with haggis |
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| JS has an Arran Anvil |
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| I go for the Pornstar Martini for shock value |
Everything is delicious, and the slow service does not diminish our enjoyment too much.
Being a large-ish group, the discussion never goes too deep and, since we are in a restaurant, it feels inappropriate to pour our own whiskies. Against MR's plans, we all decline an after-party. We are in bed before midnight.
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| We even manage to dodge JL's Connie the Caterpillar cake |
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| They have a map of the Benelux behind the bar |
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