Late Update

Hey guys,

So.. I know last Thursday I said I'd update the next day.. About the distillery, but unfortunately I ended up just working and spending time with Gareth, and then I ended up becoming sick! I'm still a bit off at the moment, with a banging headache and sore throat, but I felt bad about not updating, so here I am, in my jammys, with one of Gareths jumpers on for warmth, updating for you! Lol.. And may I apologise for the silly amount of photo's.. Haha. 

So like I say, we went to the distillery and did a little tour, along with some tasters, and I got some shots. I can't remember the whole story, but I can pretty much sum it up I think..

Firstly, this sign made me giggle a bit, so I had to get a shot of it. 

These are the sorts of barrels they use for storing the whiskey in for however many years to mature.

The ingredients in whiskey are barley and water. The distillery receives the barley in a crushed down form called malt, which they then crush down even more to create the malt grist.

This contraption was used to put the malt grist into for boiling. They boil it three separate times with water, with the temperature rising each time, but I can't remember what the temperatures where.

These are the barrels it would then get sent to, in order to brew into the whiskey.

This is an example of the solution right at the beginning of fermentation.

This was a day into the fermentation.

This is an example of the solution already fermented, and waiting for the foam to withdraw.

This is the finished solution, ready to put into brew.

These two are the pot stills, one is used to boil the alcohol off using the vapours to collect it, then the second one is used to re-boil it to remove even more of the alcohol using vapour.

This is the sample safe.. As the label suggests. On the right, the stuff that came out of the initial pot still enters here to then be transferred to the second pot still. Then on the left the first lot of alcohol released is put back through the pot stills, because it is still full of yeast and other products, then once it reaches the proper alcohol level it gets put into yet another barrel, as the spirit and whiskey.

The samples that we both tried. They were nice but definitely too strong and too much of a kick for me I think..

And another little tidbit I learnt. Every whiskey barrel is unique, so once the bottles from one barrel are all sold, the next lot they make in that barrel, or in another barrel, even of the same whiskey, will have a slightly different taste to it, which is what makes whiskey so unique.

So it was a very educating trip, that was very fun.. And as Gareth said, failing in doing so. 'You can't not get engaged and not drink alcohol.' .. Obviously he meant 'You can't get engaged...' haha. I corrected him promptly. 

This is the present I got for Gareth. He absolutely adores dragons, and I quite like them too, so I knew he'd like this present. (: 

Then to finish this blog, me and Gareth went to Brodick to pick some things up and we passed the mountains, and I was so excited to see them topped with snow, because I've never seen it before. (: So, me being me, I got some photo's. These two being my favourite.

They look so amazing. (:

Well, I'm going to head now, because my headache is coming back.. And it's driving me mad! Haha, good thing I have Gareth here to look after me. (: 

Dormy Saz