PORT CHARLOTTE ~ THE FIRST CUT
The First Cut
is the Steepest:
Lady Caroline
Mactaggart – wife of the Bruichladdich Chairman – cut the
first turf of the new Port Charlotte Distillery Project in an
emotional ceremony on 27th May 2007.
The new
distillery is to be built within existing warehouse buildings
on the site of the original distillery that ceased production
in 1929. Sir John Mactaggart made a speech covering the
history of the company since it reopened the Bruichladdich
Distillery six years earlier in May 2001. He then raised the
Port Charlotte Distillery standard, a highly charged moment,
as Canadian pipers from the Royal Edmonton Regiment played.
The ceremony,
witnessed by 500 locals and visitors, marked the official
beginning of the two year project expected to open on the same
day in 2009. Jim McEwan, production director and Master
Distiller, commented: “this is an exciting and emotional
moment for us all; the official start of a new project, our
new dream.”
“Through hard
work and inspiration we have been able to bring back one
distillery from the dead; now we have the
honour
and privilege to bring a second one back to life.” In recent
years Islay has seen a resurgence of economic activity, led by
the distilling sector with 8 distilleries now in full
production producing 100,000 barrels of spirit a year.
To celebrate
the moment, the distillery have made available a single cask
of heavily peated Port Charlotte single malt - distilled at
Bruichladdich in 2001. The “First Cut” valinch is
reserved exclusively to visitors to the Bruichladdich
Distillery on the Isle of Islay, and are filled in person by
hand at a cost of £55. The day’s celebratory mood continued
with an open day, part of “Feis Ile” the island’s
week long whisky and music festival attended by whisky fans
from all over the world.
