Postcard: the story so far

Fresh sea air and exercise at Ardbeg

We visited the Ardbeg and Laphroaig distilleries today, and did the tours. We also sampled a few drams along the way. By our count, 14:

Ardbeg – Blasda
Ardbeg – Rennaissance
Ardbeg – Corryvreckan
Ardbeg – Still Young
Ardbeg – Uigedail
Laphroaig – 10 year old cask strength
Laphroaig – 15 year old
Laphroaig – Quarter cask
Laphroaig – Cairdeas
Laphroaig – 17 year old (1988)
Bruichladdich – Moine Mhor
Bruichladdich – Murray McDavid 1989
Jura – Murray McDavid 1989
Black Bottle – Islay Blend

But, of course these were only tiny tastings and we spread it throughout the day, ate healthily and cycled for miles. Wouldn’t like you to think we were out here on Islay getting drunk or anything…

We were also very sensible about our purchases. We bought a bottle each of the Cairdeas (almost pronounced ‘car chase’), which is only available at the Laphroaig distillery. Limited edition, released for their whisky festival last year. You can’t get it retail anywhere – not even online stores. £40 a bottle.

We got back to the B&B and went straight online to confirm our suspicions. There’s a bottle up for sale on eBay already for twice that amount. So even if we sell one of them the moment we get back, the one we drink was free.

And for the record – it’s awesome.