I must confess that my initial attraction to Scotland was the result of being interested in single malt whisky. I've made quite a few trips there since 2001, and visited quite a few distilleries. Although all Scotch is made with the same ingredients of malted barley, water, and yeast, "cooked" in copper and aged in oak, it never ceases to amaze me how different the end product from each distillery can be.
Scotland, of course, is much more than whisky, and the place has stolen my heart with her beauty and interest. This photograph is from the distillery of one of my favourite whiskies, Laphroaig, on my favourite island of Islay. The stillman is tending to the spirit safe, where the first sight of the new make spirit coming from the stills can be had...the beginning of a long process of making single malt whisky which can take anywhere from three years up to 40, 50, even 60 years (the latter being very rarified stuff!).
