Back

May 2011

Hello again. Nov 2010 to now.

Hello again from Balblair. My apologies for not blogging earlier. I hope my tweets on twitter have kept most of you fairly up to date.

We managed to get through the long cold winter without too much bother. Great credit to all the guys here who kept everything going sweetly despite challenging conditions. I am indeed lucky to have a magnificent work force in a wonderful location.

At the moment we are processing heavily peated malt – 79ppm! You would be forgiven for thinking you were in Islay if you came here with your eyes closed. The aroma is very distinctive and it reminds me of being on the family croft in Harris. The spirit that’s coming off the stills is really excellent. It will be very interesting to see how it progresses in cask. To my knowledge this hasn’t been done before at Balblair and it all adds to me learning something new. In this job you continually encounter fresh things and that’s what makes it so enjoyable.

We have been given the green light for visitor Centre at the distillery which will commence later this year. The plans for it look great and I have no doubt it will enhance what is already a great experience for visitors. We have a new tour guide at the distillery – Julie Ross. She stays in Edderton and is married to John G. Ross who happens to be one of the guys here. After a couple of weeks training Julie is now taking tours by herself. The feed-back I have had from her visitors has been great – well done Julie! If you are interested in taking a tour of the distillery please get in touch – you won’t be disappointed.

I am delighted to tell you that Ken Loach, much admired director of films such as” Kes”, “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” and “Route Irish” has chosen Balblair as a location for his latest project – The Angels Share. Not only will this be fascinating to witness but will give the distillery some wonderful exposure. Filming is due to star mid-June. I hope to land the part of “man in corner with large dram”. Mr Loach is hoping to use as many locals as he can so there is a bit of excitement in Edderton just now.

A couple from Tain are due to marry at the distillery in July – Tracy and Dan tie the knot on the 16th. My best to them both. This is wedding number 2 for Balblair and I’m sure it will be a great day for all concerned. Tracy’s father Finlay worked at the distillery for many years. I think I know what they’ll use for a toast!

After the summer shut-down we will be increasing production to 7 day working. This is great news for us and it is comforting to know that demand for our whisky is ever increasing. We are all very proud of what we produce here and rightly so as it truly is a magnificent dram.

Warehouse 9 and 10 are in the process of being re-roofed at the moment. Local guys’ doing the work and it’s coming along nicely. Every year the place just looks better and better but you never stop trying to improve.

These are indeed exciting times for us here. Let’s hope it continues.
All the very best for now.
John.