WILLIE COCHRANE ISLE OF JURA FULL

It is thought to be the last remnant of a great stone circle laid down by the earliest Diurach’s to appease the nasty spirits of the island over 3,000 years ago. The whisky is named after the largest (at a hefty 12 foot tall). Jura has launched a 30 year old single malt in honour of the ancient Camas an Staca (translating simply to Standing Stone in English.) In all Jura has eight standing stones around the island. We had one such view when we stopped to sample a very special whisky. The Paps dominate the landscape and there are amazing views on a clear day across the sea. Willie seemed to know everyone and everyone certainly seemed to know Willie! It really hammered home just how entwined with the island the distillery is. On a tour around the island it was amazing how many times we stopped to talk to local people out walking their dogs or just heading home for the day.

I’m not trying to say that this is unique to Jura – it’s just the first time I have experienced it. My time on Jura was the first time I really felt the distillery had clear links to the people around it. With many of them now open 24 hours a day it makes sense that everyone working there has a real sense of togetherness. I’ve yet to come across a single malt distillery that didn’t have a good community spirit but in most of them I couldn’t help get the impression that the community lay within the distillery themselves and not the wider area. However a lot of the distilleries I have visited have been based several miles from the nearest village or town. It’s how people like to see the single malt they are drinking. It hurts the very core of my brain to try and fathom how much money whisky companies plough into marketing to make their distilleries and whiskies look small, quaint and connected to the rural communities around them. I’ll get to the whisky soon but first I’d like to take a moment to explain one of the main things I felt when I came away from the Isle of Jura – the spirit of a real community. We were there to experience the island itself and try the newest expression of whisky that they had crafted.

We were not, however, visiting the island just to have a look around their wonderful whisky factory. mostly from myself and Gal from Whisky Israel) may have had about the spirit made at the distillery.

WILLIE COCHRANE ISLE OF JURA FULL

Our time there started with Willie Cochrane, Jura’s long serving distillery manager, giving us the full tour and answering any of the geek-tastic questions that any of our group (i.e.

Willie cochrane isle of jura