Day 12: Oban, Islay (Kiells)

In which driving is done, a ferry is caught, whisky is drunk, purchases are made; also introducing Margaret the supergrass.

Following a fairly decent breakfast at the Oyster Inn, we headed south, first to fill up with fuel and then to get cash, as, according to guides to Feis Ile, it isn’t unknown for electronic banking to fail, and ATMs to run out of money around this time. Then south we went.

Time was on our side, so we had the opportunity to stop for a coffee in Tarbert, a little town by the sea (tarbert/tarbet translates as isthmus, so there are several scattered throughout Scotland). First was a coffee at a little waterfront cafe, where as we walked in a mature lady called Margaret was busily filling in a young police officer regarding various things in the neighbourhood and what he should be doing about them. As she did so, the younger ladies staffing the cafe were going a little red in the face, as was the young officer (his partner had basically bailed on him, possibly to get backup). He eventually managed to slip out of the conversation, referring to Margaret as his “source”.

We sipped out coffees quietly, making sure not to give Margaret anything further to report on us.

Then came a quick stroll along the waterfront shops, first to the Loch Fyne gallery, that had many beautiful things, then the whisky shop, that also had many beautiful things. Beautiful things like Cadenheads bottlings from 10-15 years ago, and limited bottlings of Springbank, Laphroaig, and other wonderful distilleries. Had I a few thousand spare dollars, I could have certainly done some serious shopping there.

Then it was down the road to Kennacraig, the ferry terminal. The CalMac ferries running these days are a lot more fancy than the ones I caught back in 2005. Back then the menu consisted of fish and chips, pie and chips, haggis and chips, sausage and chips, curry and chips, and in the morning a full Scottish breakfast. Today’s menu included green vegetables, mac’n’cheese, chilli con carne, boiled potatoes, as well as fish and chips. Went the mac’n’cheese with chips, a decent carb load to line my stomach for everything to come.

The ferry ride was generally uneventful, no sea mammals to be seen, but we did get to sail through some interesting mist, the sort that in movies means pirates or weird time travel, but this doesn’t appear to have been the case. I’d have loved if it transported me to a universe where all good whisky was affordable, but sadly this was not to be.

We’d booked in for a 3.30pm tasting at Bowmore, our ferry was arriving at Port Askaig at 2.50pm, our accommodation in Keills no more than 5 minutes from the ferry terminal, and there was a bus to Bowmore that takes 21 minutes, departing opposite our bnb at 3.09pm. Easy. Everything ran pretty much to schedule, and we fronted up at Bowmore at pretty much dead on 3.30pm (even scored a free bus ride as the ticket machine wasn’t working).

The Bowmore tasting was The Story of Wood, a tour of 4 drams highlighting the influence of different barrels on Bowmore. We started off with a small measure of the new make spirit, clear from the stills at around 68% abv. Was interesting, fairly strong smoky notes, with a hint of citrus, and some big malty notes. Then came the Tempest Batch 3, a cask strength release solely from bourbon barrels, full of typical Bowmore notes, a little medicinal/maritime, a layer of smoke, citrus peeking through. Next was Devil’s Casks batch 3, also cask strength, bottled a few years ago and now almost impossible to find, matured in a combination of oloroso and pedro ximinez barrels, full of big sherry notes, dark fruits, chocolate, yet with some Bowmore characteristics to be found. Third whisky was an 11 year old cask strength mix of sherry and wine casks, the Feis Ile bottling from 2017, and certainly one of the better wine casks whiskies I’ve had, the sherry was solid and up front, with the wine adding some dryness to the finish. Final dram was a 14 year old hand filled ruby port expression, a very limited run, single cask, and as it was filled straight from the cask had a bit of cloudiness to it. Probably one of the better port cask whiskies I’ve had, with a richness, hints of chocolate, and a long smoky finish. A pretty amazing tasting and start to this part of the trip.

At the tasting, the presenters mentioned that the current Feis Ile exclusive Bowmore is a lot like the Devil’s Cask, a full rich sherried 18 year old. This certainly got our attention, and while I’d previously flagged this bottle as a maybe purchase, I decided to get one. The decision was probably assisted by the effects of the excellent tasting, as well as the free drams of the 12 and 15 year old we were given tokens for on entry to the distillery.

Following this, we popped into the Islay Whisky Shop in Bowmore, to check the range there. They had some very interesting older bottlings, and it I end up with luggage space may pop back in.

Our bnb is a ways from any shops, so we’ve stocked up on food, and P cooked a decent pesto pasta dinner. We’re out for dinner tomorrow night, but otherwise dining out options are limited due to our location and the scarcity of taxis. While Bowmore didn’t seem too crazy by the time we got there today, there was probably at least 500 people there, which for an island that normally has around 4,000 inhabitants certainly temporarily boosts the population.

Tomorrow P and I are off to Ardbeg for a straight from the barrel tasting. Proper Ardbeg day is Saturday, but they, like other distilleries, are open all week and taking visitors, so it should be at the less busy end of things.