Tuesday was our last full day on Islay and again we tried to cram in way too many different activities and get to too many distilleries. The weather was also not that helpful, but we made the best of it and had another amazing day!

Tuesday, we slept in a bit later than intended - I guess we both needed it. While it did end up affecting our plans, it was still nice to have a bit of a slower start to the day. We wanted to get out and explore a bit, so we headed up to the northwest part of the island to see Loch Gruinart. Loch Gruinart is one of the top wildlife sites in Scotland, with a wide range of habitats and a dedicated in-house farming operation. This could provide us with opportunities to see a range of key Hebridean birds and other wildlife, including Greenland barnacle and Greenland white-fronted geese, corncrake, hen harrier and even otters! They have a couple of different walking trails and some bird hides to explore.

It was misty and a bit rainy as we headed out, which was not promising. Tuesday ended up being our worst day for weather. As we headed north from Port Ellen, you cross this huge expand of peat bog, which is mostly covered with heather. We had just missed the bloom (apparently it blooms in late August), but there was some pink left in the flowers and it was easy to imagine how spectacular the scenery must have looked just a few weeks ago. This area also reminds me of the north in Canada and what the tundra in the Arctic looks like in the fall. It’s not quite the same, but has a similar feel to it.

It’s a little harder to get the good view of the Bowmore buildings. And you can see what a lovely day we had.

A little further along the way, we drove through the town of Bowmore and made a very quick stop at the Bowmore Distillery. Bowmore is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland. It is said to have been established in 1779 and is the oldest running distillery on Islay. And one of the nicest facilities we saw. I really do love their 18 year old, but it’s starting to get a bit expensive for every day purchase.

It was a bit too early to be drinking scotch, even for me, but we checked out the very cool bar (it wasn’t too early for others…) and the shop. They had some interesting options, but we didn’t pick up anything. We also popped into the local tourist shop in town and did pick up an Islay souvenir from there.

THe entrance to the tasting room. I had hoped to get back before the end of the day to have a drink in the very nice bar, but that didn’t work out.

We got in our way again, eventually ending up back on single lane roads as we headed north into the countryside. The scenery is quite beautiful, lots of farmland and open woodlands, and many peaks at the ocean as we drove along.

We got to Loch Gruinart, and made a short stop in their visitor center. There wasn’t a lot to see, but we explored the small displays inside the center before heading back to the car, and heading down to the trailhead parking.

It was only a few hundred meters away, and there was a choice of two different trails. I would have liked to explore both (neither were very long), and we decided to start on the “woodlands" trail, which included two bird hides and views over the loch. We had a tasting at Bruichladdich at 2:00, and again, time was a bit tight. If it proved to be viable, we’d squeeze in both.

The trail initially led down to a bird hide overlooking some small ponds. There was not a lot going on at this one - local crows, a blue heron and some small song birds - but not really a lot that was super interesting.

We did see some raptors off in the distance, probably hen harriers, but they were too far off for a positive identification. So we made that a quick stop before continuing on. We climbed back up to the start of the trail, and then back down and into the woods. This part of the trail was quite beautiful, weaving through some sizable trees, many this odd looking (to us) type of gnarled, twisting birch trees. Thee were small streams and old stone walls, and it was quite enjoyable.

The trail through the woodlands was quite pretty, and rain made it quite atmospheric.

There were cool, old stone walls in places.

We thought these were spider webs, but it turned out to be some other type of caterpillar.

Not the most picturesque, but the views out from the blinds looked like they might be good for birds.

Eventually the trail lead down to a second bird blind. This one was closer to the Loch and was a lot busier. Immediately there were swallows all over the place, some swans (including a couple of grey cygnets), lots of small song birds and even a sizable flock of lapwings. These were new to us and quite cool. Much bigger than I expected.

Outside the second hide on our little walk in the rain.

As the action was better, we stuck around at this hide for a little while longer, but could not stay as long as we would have liked. Time was ticking. We headed back up the trail and made our way back through the woods to the car. It was a lovely walk in the woods.

The Bruichladdich Distillery - I had been looking forward to this one!

The rain was getting a bit harder at this point, so we headed off, continuing towards the Town of Port Charlotte and the Bruichladdich Distillery. We had hoped to make a couple of short stops at some view points that we had seen along the way, but the weather really was not very nice.

We were a bit early as a result, but had brought some food for a picnic. Sadly, it was pouring down with rain so instead of being able to sit outside and enjoy scenery, we parked at the small parking lot overlooking the sea and had a picnic in the car.

Not ideal, but you make do. We ate some of the cheese we had bought yesterday, along with an assortment of treats we had picked up from the little store in town.

After our lunch, we headed into what has become my favorite Islay distillery! And after the tour, I think it has cemented its place. For this one, I had booked a proper tour of the distillery, that came with a tasting in the Laddie Shop. While the tasting at Lagavulin was amazing, we didn’t get to see the full distilling process. We got that here. Our tour guide was great - a much younger woman, but still full of character and with a deep knowledge of the distillery and the distilling process.

The tasting room and shop - they lean into their signature teal colour.

Our tour started with some of the history, learning that the distillery was originally opened in 1881, but fell on hard times and was shut down in the early 1990s, as a result of the whiskey industry downturn from the 70s and 80s. We heard about this a couple of times, but didn’t realize how bad it had gotten. The distillery was purchased by the current owners in 2000 and refurbished and reopened in 2001.

Our tour guide (middle) was amazing! Great personality and lots of info!

We got taken through all the different parts of the facility and saw the whole process unfolding before our eyes.

From below, the cast iron mashing drum was very impressive.

They were in process on a new batch.

Justine even managed to catch it as they added water to the process.

These huge wooden barrels are part of the process, before it goes to much smaller barrels for the long-term aging.

You could see right inside, and the smells were amazing!

Their stills were not quite as big as the ones at Ardbeg, but still quite impressive. Next step, barrels (I think).

But the coolest thing about the place is that most of the equipment used in the distillation process is still from the 1880s! They have operating equipment that almost no one knows how to maintain - there’s one guy left that knows it. That would make me worries, operating a business like that. The tour took us through all the steps in the process, and it smelled amazing!

Since then, and despite the ancient equipment, they feel like one of the most progressive distilleries that we went to. They are working more closely with the local community and the local farmers, and in the shop they had some unique bottles that were tied to progressive agriculture techniques. It was all very interesting.

A slightly different view of the stills.

Ugly Betty is used to make their Botanist gin, which is now one of our favs.

Quality control.

A slightly different view, from underneath, for a sense of scale.

Eventually we ended up in the cask cellar, where we got a look at all the barrels being aged. They use a lot of second hand barrels, many from big name French wineries. They asked is not to name names, so I will honour that request. Still, it was a sight to see.

So many barrels, some sitting for decades. You just want to sample all of them!

They had one barrel with glass on each end that shows what happens over time as it ages, and how the barrels lose the “angles share” - liquid that evaporates out of the barrels. There me a surprising amount of loss over time.

Then it was back to the tasting room, and a chance to try some. We got three samples (and Jus managed to get us a tasting of their gin), and they were all excellent. I ended up buying a couple of bottles to take home - one for me, and one as a gift. We’ll see who they end up with…

The tasting bar in the Laddie Shop was quite nice, and we had a fun time tasting a few of their products.

While this tasting was more limited, the three they picked were a nice range, plus Justine managed to get us a tasting of the Botanist gin.

The three scotches we sampled, including the Octomore (tall skinny bottle) - the “peatiest scotch on earth”

After that tour and tasting was over, we were pushing it to get to any other distillery before they closed. This 5:00 p.m. closing time nonsense was ridiculous. Still, we pushed hard and headed to the north end of the island, close to our ferry terminal, to Caol Ila, another of my favorites. We didn’t make it in time for a proper tasting, but the shop was still open and I did get to taste one sample. It was lovely and almost convinced me to buy another bottle. But it was pretty pricey, and so we left without doing further damage to my wallet.

This distillery was probably the most “commercial”, and as the Islay arm of Johnny Walker, I guess that wasn’t too much of a surprise. The facility was beautiful.

You could get a peak at the stills from a distance.

From there, we drove the 40 minutes back to the cottage and had time for a drink and a bit of relaxing before heading for dinner. We made the very short walk over to the Islay Hotel, where we had booked a table for dinner. Dinner was excellent!

For a starter, I had this crab and avocado dish that was beautifully presented, then followed that up with a venison pie made from local venison. I can’t think of many things more Scottish than that. Justine had a very nice tomato soup and then the local fish and chips, which was also excellent. The service left much to be desired, but we had a nice last meal out on Islay.