Lagg

Getting to Lagg was a bit of a journey.

It wasn't the distance - I like driving in Scotland, and the sense of “distance” for a Scot is quite different than that for a Canuck. But it was the weather. It was, not surprisingly, grey when we arrived in Lochranza on the ferry from Claonaig. For the final few miles to our evening lodgings at the Lagg Hotel at the south end of the Isle of Arran, the road had become quite hilly and winding. I'm sure the scenery looking south towards distant AilsaCraig would have been spectacular had it not been obscured by heavy fog. Narrow Scottish roads can be tricky to drive at the best of times, but when you can't really see what's coming around the next bend it tends to be especially hairy.

But don't let that put you off.

 

The Isle of Arran seen from Claonaig on the Kintyre peninsula

 

  

Ailsa Craig, home of world famous curling rocks

 

 

Lagg Distillery under construction in 2018

My dad taking a well earned snooze in the Lagg Hotel lounge

 

Slàinte

 

barrels

In the long history of whisky making, wood has perhaps travelled the furthest along the distiller's continuum of understanding as to its importance to and influence on the final product. Born of the need simply to contain and transport the whisky maker's art, it is now exhaulted as one of the major contributors to the flavours we have come to love. So much so that distilleries like Glenmorangie actually select their own oak from trees growing in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri where it will begin its life as barrels maturing American whiskey or bourbon.

And though the distiller appreciates the barrel for the qualities of its wood, I appreciate it for the qualities of its shape and form...the smooth flowing line of the circle, the rhythm of repetition, the stories it tells by its grizzled exterior and stencilled tatoos. They're fun to photograph.

Bruichladdich barrels after the rain.

Arran barrels.

Glenora, Canada's single malt distiller on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

Balvenie barrel hoops.

Slàinte
...and Happy Hogmanay