Not all island whiskies sock you with a gust ofpeat and seaweed. Anthony Troon watches an unusual thoroughbredstep lightly from the stills on Jura.
When literary people think of the Isleof Jura, they are usually thinking about George Orwell and'l984'. Orwell completed this futuristic novel in 1948, whileliving on the island in the farmhouse of Barnhill. But with thepassage of time, two things have altered.
One is that the year of the novel is now in the past, and theawesome imagination of Eric Blair (aka G Orwell) doesn't seemexcessive any more. The ominous presence of 'Big Brother' and thecynical manipulation of thought are hardly strange to us thesedays.
The other change is that the Isle of Jura Distillery is backin business. It's thought to have been established in 1810 andrebuilt 60 years later, but closed down during the First WorldWar. After further rebuilding, it began to produce malt whiskyonce again in 1963. Thus it was no more than a sorry unproductivehulk, in a magnificent inner Hebridean setting, while Ericthundered at his typewriter a few miles along the coast.
Here's the big question: would his predictions for '1984' havebeen a little less pessimistic if there was a chance of a dramdown the road? Literary purists might see this as a trivialissue: but whisky purists might not.
A fascinating characteristic of the Jura dram is that it isproduced a short swim away from the island of Islay, yet itdiffers so remarkably from those seven neighbours. Experiencedtasters will detect some saltiness in it, yet none of the seaweedpungency to be found - in varying degrees - in the Islay malts.
Distillery manager Willie Tait emphasises that, at thematuring stage, there is no attempt to induce flavour into theJura malt. Less than a tenth of the bottled product will havebeen held in sherry casks, and the rest in second-fill Scotchwhisky casks - from which, therefore, the vanilla influence ofthe original bourbon filling will have been largely removed. 'Wefind,' he says, 'that this reflects the character of our whiskywithout unnecessary enhancement.'
Whence does this island whisky from theInvergordon stable derive its glorious gentleness? Soft waterfrom a spring called Bhaille Mharghaidh is used in the mash. Ithas flowed over rock and does not carry too many traces of peat.
The malted barley (some of which actually comes from Islay,curiously enough) is only slightly peated: the strength iscalibrated at two parts per million of phenols, compared with50-plus in the case of such lusty next-door malts as the Ardbegand the Lagavulin.
Then we have the Jura stills. The two pairs of low wines andspirit stills are among the tallest in the industry: theirheight, of course, is a factor contributing to a light and purespirit. Unusually, there's little visible difference in sizebetween the wash and spirit stills, which are heated internallyby copper coils pulsing with steam.
Willie Tait, who has the unflagging enthusiasm for his jobcharacteristic of distillery managers (and the patience todescribe its minutiae) explains that when the charger holds48,000 litres of wash, this is divided between the first pair ofstills. The liquid will reach the lip of the 'man-door', theaccess hatch which opens for inspection and cleaning.
With the steam on and the wash boiling, the liquid risesquickly into the neck of the still. 'When you get to that stageyou must take the steam off. That's called braking the still.' Ilove that expression, with its steam loco connotation.
Then the heat is allowed to rise slowlyuntil the still is running at a simmer, staying at that pace foraround eight hours until a hydrometer reading shows there is nomore alcohol in the distillate.
The second distillation in the smaller spirit stills is takeneven more gently. These stills will run for 11 hours, but will beproducing the precious 'middle cut' for only a third of thattime. There are two steam coils in each still: and while themiddle cut is running, one of these coils is shut down so thatthe young Jura comes into the world very slowly and gently.
At birth it will be about 70 per cent alcohol by volume, andthis is reduced to 63.5 per cent by adding water from its motherspring. And from that point onwards the whisky will be containedonly in oak vessels until filling into barrels.
There is much more to be learned at the Jura Distillery, but Ihave concentrated on the distilling process because of itsprimary influence on this distinctive island malt. There are theearthen-floored original maturing warehouse with itscraftsmanlike roof joists, dating from 1810, now used as arepairing cooperage; the CIP (cleaning in place) system for themash tuns and washbacks which was unique when installed; thebalance of cultured and brewer's yeast to give a quick start andlong-running fermentation.
And then, of course, there are the matchless views from Jura.George Orwell would have been familiar with those: but I'm surehe would regret missing the rest.
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