Laphroaig!

Photo Captions:

As a " Friend of Laphroaig , I got to plant my SA flag, and claim as piece of Laphroaig land....

Believe it or not, at one stage this very ' masculine whisky' was once owned by a women....

Our tour host, explaining what Peat it.

Inside a copper pot still, these coils are filled with steam, which in turn heat the wash/low wine.... distillation for you...

Traditional Pagoda Roofs, still made use of @ Laphroaig.

Floor malting warehouse: Where a portion of their floor malting's are done.

No statement needed.... :)

Flying into Islay, Laphroaig was the first distillery I saw... rather appropriate I think...

Happy days! I am a 'friend of laphroaig' (check out their website for more details) and somehow they knew this (I did book a tasting... Maybe that's it) and I arrived to be greeted by my certificate which verifies that I, yes I, own a piece of Laphroaig land!

I shall shortly plant my South African flag on my square foot of land... Yippeee I did the normal public tour... Touch of a let down as it was very much an entry level tour (not to sound snobby.. Honestly) none the less, great to see the Laphroaig stills and washbacks etc. Its silent season, @ laphroaig, so got to literally stick my head into the stills, washbacks and mash tuns! Saw a tonne of peat, stunning to see the raw vegetation up close and personal for the first time.

For some of my dear friends who might read this who are not whisky fanatics: peat is decomposed vegetation. Its what ( when burnt and used as coal to dry the barley) gives whisky that very particular smoke aroma, which either you love or hate! I am a self confessed peat freak... As a few do know.... Now I'm about to do a mini tasting of the 10, Quarter cask and 18 with Stilton, local salmon and chocolate... Will fill you in later!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device