Uisge Beatha … The Water of Life
Notes from a North Sea Island
“To make whisky it takes barley, water and yeast”.
So I began my tours during the six years I worked as a guide at the Highland Park Whisky Distillery. Until I started working for myself as a freelance writer, this was the most fun I had ever had during my entire working life. Every day was different and I was always meeting new people, even if most of them only became acquaintances for between thirty minutes to an hour. It was such a thrill to be able to pass on my enthusiasm for Orkney to the visitors and contribute to the pleasant memories they took away from their visit to these shores.
The Highland Park Distillery, established in 1798, lies on the rise above the town of Kirkwall. The founder was Magnus Eunson, who was a gentleman of some ingenuity. By day he practiced as a clergyman while at night he indulged in making his illicit whisky. Orkney being the small and remote place it is news travelled quickly and he would know in good time when the excise officer set foot on the Islands, enabling him to hide the whisky underneath the pulpit in his kirk. In fact, whisky continued to be made illegally at Rosebank, the site of the present Distillery for a total of twenty seven years before a change In the law at last made distilling a viable business proposition. Ironically, the original buildings were owned by the very excise officer who had finally arrested Magnus Eunson a decade earlier. The main attraction of the site were the springs of crystal-clear water, about half a mile away at a spot known as Cattie Maggie.
Today Highland Park prides itself as being the northern most Scottish Whisky Distillery in the world. It is one of only five Distilleries left which carries out its own malting. Whisky connoisseurs come here from all over the world to witness this long and labour intensive process. Once the barley has begun to germinate after having been soaked in ‘steeps’ for forty eight hours, it is transferred to the 'Malting Floors'. When the tiny ‘shoots’ appear, it becomes known as ‘green malt’. Depending on the time of year, the green malt will remain spread out on the vast concrete floors for about a week while the germination continues. During this time the malt is turned at least three times a day, using a ‘turner’ which looks like a huge electric lawnmower and weighs over 200kg. Next, the drying process. At Highland Park malt is dried in two separate kilns for a total of fifty hours. First over peat, which infuses the end product with the delicate heathery notes particular to this whisky and then over coke, a type of coal which has had its gases removed. When the malt is ready it is moved to the floor of the kiln, situated about ten metres above the kiln itself, by means of a small elevator. The dried malt is then ground and separated into three components. Grits is the coarsest element, then grist and finally flour. The grist and the flour hold the natural sugars which will eventually turn onto alcohol during the distillation process.
The mashing begins when the product from the mill is filtered into the steel mashtun by means of a huge industrial cone or funnel and is then immersed in water which is exchanged three times at increasing temperatures. Great metal blades mix the mash inside the mashtun, extracting all the natural sugars. The resulting liquid is cooled before being drained into massive 'washbacks' for the fermentation to take place. Fermentation lasts around fifty hours. The ‘wash’, as it is now known contains around 7% alcohol at this stage.
Scottish whisky is distilled twice. The wash is transferred into the so-called ‘wash stills’. The liquid is brought to boiling point by steam coils in the base of the stills. Along with the resulting steam the vapour is driven off and cooled in a condenser before passing into the 'spirit safe' in liquid form. Here it is managed, ie. analysed for purity and strength, without direct contact with the spirit, thereby enabling the distiller to keep to strict laws regulating the whisky industry. From the spirit safe the liquid, known as 'low wines' at this point, are directed into the low wine receiver.
After the first distillation the low wines contain around 27% alcohol. They are now transferred into ‘low wine stills’ and following the second distillation the resulting spirit will hold around 70% volume.
At this point the final and longest step of the whisky making process begins. The raw spirit is filled into sherry and bourbon casks for maturation. Highland Park ages its whisky for 12 18, 21 and 25 years. While being stored in bonded warehouses for these respective periods of time the volume is reduced by about 2% a year through evaporation. Known as the 'angel’s share' this loss eventually dilutes the alcohol volume to between 40 and 53%, depending on the length of time whisky is aged for.
“To make whisky it takes barley, water and yeast”.
So I began my tours during the six years I worked as a guide at the Highland Park Whisky Distillery. Until I started working for myself as a freelance writer, this was the most fun I had ever had during my entire working life. Every day was different and I was always meeting new people, even if most of them only became acquaintances for between thirty minutes to an hour. It was such a thrill to be able to pass on my enthusiasm for Orkney to the visitors and contribute to the pleasant memories they took away from their visit to these shores.
The Highland Park Distillery, established in 1798, lies on the rise above the town of Kirkwall. The founder was Magnus Eunson, who was a gentleman of some ingenuity. By day he practiced as a clergyman while at night he indulged in making his illicit whisky. Orkney being the small and remote place it is news travelled quickly and he would know in good time when the excise officer set foot on the Islands, enabling him to hide the whisky underneath the pulpit in his kirk. In fact, whisky continued to be made illegally at Rosebank, the site of the present Distillery for a total of twenty seven years before a change In the law at last made distilling a viable business proposition. Ironically, the original buildings were owned by the very excise officer who had finally arrested Magnus Eunson a decade earlier. The main attraction of the site were the springs of crystal-clear water, about half a mile away at a spot known as Cattie Maggie.
Today Highland Park prides itself as being the northern most Scottish Whisky Distillery in the world. It is one of only five Distilleries left which carries out its own malting. Whisky connoisseurs come here from all over the world to witness this long and labour intensive process. Once the barley has begun to germinate after having been soaked in ‘steeps’ for forty eight hours, it is transferred to the 'Malting Floors'. When the tiny ‘shoots’ appear, it becomes known as ‘green malt’. Depending on the time of year, the green malt will remain spread out on the vast concrete floors for about a week while the germination continues. During this time the malt is turned at least three times a day, using a ‘turner’ which looks like a huge electric lawnmower and weighs over 200kg. Next, the drying process. At Highland Park malt is dried in two separate kilns for a total of fifty hours. First over peat, which infuses the end product with the delicate heathery notes particular to this whisky and then over coke, a type of coal which has had its gases removed. When the malt is ready it is moved to the floor of the kiln, situated about ten metres above the kiln itself, by means of a small elevator. The dried malt is then ground and separated into three components. Grits is the coarsest element, then grist and finally flour. The grist and the flour hold the natural sugars which will eventually turn onto alcohol during the distillation process.
The mashing begins when the product from the mill is filtered into the steel mashtun by means of a huge industrial cone or funnel and is then immersed in water which is exchanged three times at increasing temperatures. Great metal blades mix the mash inside the mashtun, extracting all the natural sugars. The resulting liquid is cooled before being drained into massive 'washbacks' for the fermentation to take place. Fermentation lasts around fifty hours. The ‘wash’, as it is now known contains around 7% alcohol at this stage.
Scottish whisky is distilled twice. The wash is transferred into the so-called ‘wash stills’. The liquid is brought to boiling point by steam coils in the base of the stills. Along with the resulting steam the vapour is driven off and cooled in a condenser before passing into the 'spirit safe' in liquid form. Here it is managed, ie. analysed for purity and strength, without direct contact with the spirit, thereby enabling the distiller to keep to strict laws regulating the whisky industry. From the spirit safe the liquid, known as 'low wines' at this point, are directed into the low wine receiver.
After the first distillation the low wines contain around 27% alcohol. They are now transferred into ‘low wine stills’ and following the second distillation the resulting spirit will hold around 70% volume.
At this point the final and longest step of the whisky making process begins. The raw spirit is filled into sherry and bourbon casks for maturation. Highland Park ages its whisky for 12 18, 21 and 25 years. While being stored in bonded warehouses for these respective periods of time the volume is reduced by about 2% a year through evaporation. Known as the 'angel’s share' this loss eventually dilutes the alcohol volume to between 40 and 53%, depending on the length of time whisky is aged for.
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