OK, I admit, the headline is probably exaggerating a tiny little bit. Or my imagination just went wild. I just couldn’t resist when I spotted the swallow in this picture of two llamas running away in a field on the Rhinns of Islay.
Back in 2003 the Bruichladdich shop and visitor centre as we know it today didn’t exist yet, during the early years after the reopening things were a bit simpler and sometimes improvised. I’m not sure when it started, but certainly by April 2003 you could fill your own valinch bottle. Here’s me filling a bottle as an early birthday present to myself in a corner of some room at the distillery (I have a vague memory there might have been some cask filling equipment in the opposite corner, but I’m not sure).
Update: Thanks to Gordon Homer for confirming that it was indeed the filling room where it took place, also check the picture of him filling one back in 2001 (see the comments below)
An impression from the very first WalkIslay Islay walking week back in April 2003. Here we stopped for lunch during a walk north of Saligo.