Water of life

Oban, 13th August 2017 – We leave Easdale and after a short drive we arrive in Oban, famous for its whisky distillery. It is pretty awful when the sun is absent. It rains, the pavements are like mirrors and the difference between tourists and locals is that the latter do not cover their heads. “It rains, so what!” We kill time in bookstores and souvenir shops full of Scottish wool scarves. We also have a coffee or two. Then we do a tour of the Oban distillery. Stuart (pronounce Stiouwurrrrt), is our guide and makes it clear that single malt whisky is made only of water (wwwooaaterrr), yeast and malted barley (barrrrlee). Oban comes from Gaelic and means little bay. I had imagined it all bigger in size, but no, a few copper pots and that is it. Of course, there is no stock, the whisky ages elsewhere in a safe place. Alcohol is after all a good subject to taxation and regulation. We taste a wee drop of a very old whisky and get some tips to unlock the taste. We visualise the matrix he showed us at the start and try to position the whisky on the axis from smoky to delicate and from light to rich. Not an easy task, I think I need to practise more often. We are in a cold cellar and the drop evaporates on my tongue instantly and fills my mouth with velvet warmth, two words not on Stuart’s matrix. Back in the shop, he offers us an Oban Little Bay, neatly balanced by a smoky spicy-dryness…Again two new words. We can keep the glass! As we step out of the building, we do not believe our eyes… blue sky and sun. Before we move on, we walk up to McCaig’s tower, a coliseum like structure on Battery Hill. McCaig was a rich banker. He had it built as a memorial for him and his family, paying masons who were unemployed during winter. A narcissistic philanthropist!

The bay with the chimney of Oban Distillery (FDC)

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