Port Ellen & Brora to reopen!

[DMTK]

PORT ELLEN REVIVAL PLANS SUBMITTED

https://scotchwhisky.com/magazine/latest-news/25559/port-ellen-revival-plans-submitted/

[Uisge-Beatha]

"If approved, the distillery would produce a number of spirit styles using a pair of copper pot stills modelled after the original two that resided at Port Ellen, plus a second, smaller pair of stills used to produce alternative spirit characters."

Αν μη τι άλλο έχουν φαντασία εκεί στα κεντρικά της Diageo ?

[DMTK]

Planning permission given for Port Ellen

https://www.masterofmalt.com/blog/post/planning-permission-given-for-port-ellen.aspx

[DMTK]

Brora distillery restarts production after 38 years

https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2021/05/brora-distillery-restarts-production-after-38-years/

[Celtic]

[DMTK]

31 minutes ago, Celtic said:

Πήραν τον @apo21 να χτυπάει τη καμπάνα; 

[apo21]

31 minutes ago, DMTK said:

Πήραν τον @apo21 να χτυπάει τη καμπάνα; 

Πήγαινα και για Κουασιμόδος στο brora

[Celtic]

3 hours ago, DMTK said:

Πήραν τον @apo21 να χτυπάει τη καμπάνα; 

Ναι, αλλά έβαψε πορτοκαλί το μούσι και άλλαξε όνομα 

Stewart Bowman ringing the bell at Brora, after so many years, to herald the coming back to life of the iconic distillery.

 

Brora-local Master Distiller Stewart Bowman, son of the last exciseman at Brora reopened the Brora wildcat gates and filled the first cask of Brora spirit in more than 38 years. The cask was carefully rolled through a sunlit courtyard to be housed in the distillery’s most hallowed chamber: Warehouse Number One, home to the most precious relics of maturing Brora casks.

 

“In 1983,” Bowman comments, ”my father wrote in an old distillery ledger ‘Commencement of Brora Distillery silent season (undetermined period)’. Growing up in the village we often wondered whether Brora would ever return, but today we filled the first cask. It is with great pride that I can now say to my father, the Brora community, and all the ‘old hands’ that worked at Brora and helped to craft a legendary whisky, that the stills are alive and we are making Brora spirit once again.”

 

In 2017 it was announced that Diageo would restore Brora as a part of a £35 million investment to bring Brora and the equally iconic lost distillery of Port Ellen on Islay back to life, as a major commitment to Scotland and its communities. Joanne McKerchar, Diageo archivist, played a crucial role working with the community to unlock key details from personal memories of past workers and their experiences at Brora before the time of closure.

 

McKerchar comments, “When we first opened the doors at Brora we walked into a time capsule. As a historian and an archivist for malts, I had never seen anything like that before. It was unbelievable just how untouched it was: as if the guys had just finished their shift and walked out - but, of course, nobody then came back in. What must they have been thinking the last time they flicked that light switch or they locked the doors not knowing whether we were ever going to see this place open again? You’re not just looking at stills or a physical building, it’s all of the emotion that would have went with that last day that suddenly comes flooding back and then that coupled with a big question: so what are we going to do now, and what lies ahead of us, and how are we going to achieve this? It was quite overwhelming.”

 

McKerchar and Bowman worked alongside a host of specialists, whisky noses and archivists in the restoration of the distillery buildings and its prized spirit. On the restoration process, Master Distiller Bowman comments, “We have gone to every effort to replicate, as closely as possible, the conditions, equipment and processes from Brora in 1983 in order to recreate the spirit for which the distillery is famous. The original pair of Brora stills travelled 200 miles across Scotland to Diageo Abercrombie Coppersmiths in Alloa where they were refurbished by hand; we raised up the original pagoda roof to conduct intricate repairs, and rebuilt the stillhouse brick-by-brick using original Brora stone to restore this historic Victorian distillery.” Fully committing to recreate the distilling processes of old, Brora will use a traditional rake and gear mash tun and use malted barley from Glen Ord maltings, exactly as it did in 1983.

 

The process of restoration extended beyond the physical buildings to the cherished Brora spirit that has made the distillery so legendary. Using a combination of the tasting notes for the original new make spirit, stills refurbished to exact historic specifications, material from the archives and more modern distilling knowledge, the restorers managed to replicate, as closely as possible, the way the distillery operated in 1983. Celebrated whisky expert Master Blender Dr Jim Beveridge OBE worked closely with technical partner Donna Anderson to restore Brora’s spirit

 

Dr Jim Beveridge OBE says “It was a wonderful challenge – one of the most rewarding that I have faced in my career as a whisky maker. When I heard of the plans to bring Brora back, I recalled tasting Brora stocks of the 1980s - one of my early jobs at Diageo many years ago. By sampling remaining old stocks of Brora and using historic tasting notes, we slowly built a picture. With my colleague Donna Anderson, we were able to make this vision of the liquid a reality by reverse-engineering the production process. It is our hope that we have safeguarded that beautiful Brora spirit character for generations to come.”

 

Along the restoration journey that lasted over three years, findings of documents led to Brora’s distilling secrets being revealed. McKerchar comments, “As part of that first walkaround we found records which happened to be the original Charles Doig distillery plans from the 1890s. Until we found these plans we didn’t understand how the distillery had evolved over its 200 years of operation. It allowed us to map that out which allowed the full team of restorers to understand how the distillery would have run then, informing how it should run for years to come.”

 

As a jewel in the crown of Diageo’s distilleries across Scotland and one of its smallest, Brora will produce carefully controlled quantities of spirit, up to approximately 800,000 litres a year. The distillery will also be a carbon neutral site, powered entirely by on-site renewable energy to safeguard a sustainable future for Brora.

[apo21]

ΟΚ ας βαράει ο Stewart την καμπάνα, πάω εγώ για καντηλαναύτης. Εκεί θα τα χαλάσουμε???

[Celtic]

2 minutes ago, apo21 said:

ΟΚ ας βαράει ο Stewart την καμπάνα, πάω εγώ για καντηλαναύτης. Εκεί θα τα χαλάσουμε???

Εγώ πάω και για μασκώτ, κι ας μου δώσουν το σπιτάκι του σκύλου να μένω.....

[tomy]

εγω θα κανω το σπιτακι του σκυλου.....

[Celtic]

Πάντως διαβάζω κάτι εντελώς κουλές τιμές για το tour......Ώπα ρε μάστορα...ΑΡΑΞΕ.

[mallios]

O Craig Alexander Wilson, Master Blender; Lagavulin, Dufftown, Mortlach, Port Ellen and Brora, Filling the very first cask of Brora under the watchful eye of Stewart Bowman. 

[Celtic]

10 hours ago, mallios said:

@apo21 : "Πρόσεχε ρε μη σου στάξει έξω καμμιά σταγόνα! Θα το χρυσοπουλήσουμε αυτό το οινόπνευμα σε κάποια χρόνια"

Craig Alexander Wilson : " Ρε δε μας παρατάς που μου'χεις στρογγυλοκάτσει εκεί πάνω και δε βάζεις ένα χεράκι, θα το χύσω όλο πάνω σου ρε παλιομ@λάκα!"

[DMTK]

Port Ellen Distillery on Islay reopens - here’s what visitors can expect including free tours

The famous ghost distillery on Islay has been officially opened.

https://foodanddrink.scotsman.com/drink/whisky/port-ellen-distillery-on-islay-reopens-heres-what-visitors-can-expect-including-free-tours/

[tolisrocks]

50 minutes ago, DMTK said:

Port Ellen Distillery on Islay reopens - here’s what visitors can expect including free tours

The famous ghost distillery on Islay has been officially opened.

https://foodanddrink.scotsman.com/drink/whisky/port-ellen-distillery-on-islay-reopens-heres-what-visitors-can-expect-including-free-tours/

 πότε είπαμε πάμε @mallios et al.