Nicki & I spent New Year/my birthday at a lodge in
Aultbea, in NW Highlands (see map).
Almost next door to where we were staying were the
Drumchork Lodge Hotel and the really small Loch Ewe Distillery, although both
were closed for the season.
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This is all there is to the distillery and bond buildings |
However, when I stopped off to take a couple of
pictures one afternoon I bumped into the owner of the distillery who had come
up to collect the mail and generally check that everything was okay. We got
chatting and I persuaded him to open the shop and sell me some whisky.
However, due to the somewhat torturous regulations
surrounding the sale of spirits he told me that, although he is licensed to
produce whisky at the distillery and store it at the bond next door, he is not
allowed to sell any directly to the public. So, to get around this restriction
he ‘sells’ it to his wife who is the licensee for the hotel and, as an employee
of the hotel, he can then sell it to me. So, into the hotel bar we went.
I ended up getting this miniature of un-matured ‘UisgeBeatha’, which comes in a bottle with a partially hand-written label and is hand-sealed
with wax. As it is clear (white) and only four months old you aren’t allowed to
call it whisky, just malt spirit. As close to moonshine as you can probably get
while keeping everything within the law.