Arrival at Islay International airport!



The drive from the Islay airport to our "home" for the next 5 days at Bruichladdich's Academy took about 30 minutes. We passed through Bowmore and saw the three peaks of Jura in the distance.

Our Academy mates were already settled in when we arrived so we met them right away. There was Jim from Scotland and Patrik, Johan and Bertyl from Sweden. The two ladies that would be feeding us and taking care of our rooms were Ree and Mary.
Our first meal consisted of Asparagus soup, ham steak, potatoes, cauliflower, cooked cabbage and salad. We had a wonderfully decadent brownie pie for dessert then an assortment of cheeses and coffee and tea. There was always plenty of beer, wine and, naturally, Bruichladdich Scotch for everyone.

This evening we learned who our work partner for the week would be and were given our schedules. The schedule was broken down into Mashing, Milling, Fermentation, Distilling, Peat cutting, Water supply,Warehousing, Filling, and Bottling hall. We would report to work at 8:30AM and work until around 4:30 with a break for lunch. It was only when we saw the schedule that we also learned we would have an EXAM at the end of the week! Yikes!

Our "welcome gift" at Bruichladdich