An impression of the unusual Ugly Betty still and spirit safe at Bruichladdich distillery, used to make The Botanist gin, the only gin distilled on Islay. Taken in April 2016.
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)
A view of the old warehouses in Port Charlotte (now owned and used by Bruichladdich distillery) on a beautiful June evening. On the left the Loch Indaal lighthouse behind the trees. In the distance, on the other side of the loch, you can also make out Islay House between the trees of Bridgend woods.