Whisky, in all its iterations, is not just an end product, not just a drink...though it is a good one at that. It is a science, an art, alchemy and magic, geography and history, and it is people (um, not like soylent green...).
There are many exemplary sites out there on the making and tasting of whisky, and I don't intend on reinventing that wheel. I just want to bring some story to what I think is a fascinating process.
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Showing posts with label Saladin box. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saladin box. Show all posts

October 6, 2010

tribute

Just got back from Scotland where I picked up a copy of "Discovering Scotland's Distilleries" by Gavin D. Smith and Graeme Wallace - a neat little publication which has nicely updated the state of affairs. The book tells me that Tamdhu has been closed down (the Edrington Group website says it was "mothballed" in March of this year - OK, so I'm not the one to come to for the latest industry news!). Shame, since the dram I'm drinking is quite tasty (distillery release, no age statement).

We had a wonderful tour of their maltings in 2008, very informative and personal, with Heather Anderson, the distillery manager's wife. The maltings may still be operating, I don't know. When you get to meet the people who have a direct role in the crafting of our whisky, one feels a modicum of personal loss when a distillery like Tamdhu is considered redundant by its corporate owners. One wonders what happens to the people you've met...here are a few of them.


sign in a stone wall at Tamhdu Distillery

...another one bites the dust


Heather Anderson opens the lid of the barley screener at Tamdhu Distillery

...peering into the barley screener


damp barley in the steep at Tamdhu Distillery

...emptying the steeped barley


spraying damp barley into the Saladin box for germinating at the Tamdhu Distillery

...casting the steeped barley to the Saladin box for germination


shovelling out the malted barley from the Saladin box at Tamdhu Distillery

...emptying the Saladin box, the barley being ready for the kiln

See www.whisky.com/brands/tamdhu_brand.html for more information on Tamdhu.


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