Advancements at Ardnahoe
As we're anticipating the arrival of our new Sovereign and Golden Devil casks from Hunter Laing, I spoke with Andrew Laing on the phone this morning to catch up on all the news from Ardnahoe. If you've been living under a rock for the last year, the Laings decided to open their own distillery on Islay near Bunnahabhain just across the water from the Isle of Jura. It's one of my favorite locations on the island because for years I've been utterly captivated by the majesty of those mountains. It does something to my soul when I stare at that view, and now there's going to be an operational distillery at that very spot for me to visit and drink whisky at!
Andrew also mentioned something that may be of interest to some of you super Islay whisky fans: they're starting their private cask program as we speak and, if you're interested, you'll be able to buy your own ex-Bourbon barrel of Ardnahoe from the first distillery run for £7000. That price includes ten years of storage on the island at the distillery, as compared to off site storage for terroir purists. The complication, as many of you early Bruichladdich investors may know, is that getting the booze into the U.S. down the road will likely be a major headache. I told Andrew that I'd be happy to help any customer who goes through K&L to clear their booze into the states later on and avoid most of the tariffs, and he asked if I might pass that information along. So I'm saying this now: if you're interested in owning one of the first casks of Ardnahoe and you live in California (or you're willing to pick it up here), you should contact me.
As many of you also know, legendary master distiller Jim McEwan, of Bowmore and Bruichladdich fame, has come out of retirement for the second time to help make the whisky at Ardnahoe. There's no telling how long, however, he's going to stick around after he gets the production off the ground, so that's another reason to buy a cask of the original juice: it will definitely be distilled by Jim himself, rather than whomever takes over for him down the line. As you can see from the two photos, the distillery is coming together and Andrew told me they're looking at May for an official opening. I definitely plan on being out there in May for that remarkable achievement!
-David Driscoll