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Tuesday, 02/Dec/2008

Australians to Visit Islay?

It's a quite long journey from down under to Scotland, even longer to Islay and Jura. That shouldn't stop anyone from Australia (or New Zealand for that matter) to make the journey, it's certainly worth it. Two Australian journalists made the journey and write up their experiences in Scotland and on Islay:

Ron Crittal went on a trip around Scotland to enjoy the spirit of Scotland. After visiting a number of distilleries in the Highlands and islands he leaves the best to last:

No whisky tour could be considered complete without a trip to Islay (pronounced eye-luh). This small island, closest to Ireland, where whisky is supposed to have originated, has eight working distilleries and produces the most distinctive malts in Scotland.

While on Islay Ron visited Lagavulin distillery, where he had some unexpected tastings during the tour. Seems he quite enjoyed his visit to Islay and learned a lot about whisky.

His colleague Andrew Marshall visited the southern Hebrides for some island flair with a whisky flavour (also published in the sister paper The Age). After a stop on the Isle of Mull he turns to Islay and Jura to enjoy the wonderful food, including the Islay Oysters:

Oysters are a speciality on the island and 33-year-old Craig Archibald at Islay Oysters knows a thing or two about these succulent molluscs. He buys them in at thumbnail size (about eight to 10 grams) and grows them on a trestle in the sea till they reach about 100 grams each. The water temperature is so warm (about 17-18 degrees) that the oysters never stop growing.

From Islay he continues to Jura to enjoy some Isle of Jura Single Malt including the ‘latest offering’ (ahem...) Superstition and learn some interesting facts about the islands thousands of deer.

Oh, but don't be surprised if some of the information in the article is outdated: It seems to be a reprint of exactly the same article published in February 2005.

Still, if you're from Australia or New Zealand, how about a visit to Islay in 2009?

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