A writer retreats to Jura

Well, a travel hack actually, intrigued by the island's Orwell legacy and a new retreat available to rent

To get to Jura, we took the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry from Kennacraig on the mainland to Islay - then drove across Islay in the dark to a three-car ferry to Jura. We arrived very late, but Catriona, the housekeeper, had left a lasagne for us and a bottle of wine. The island is, as Orwell said, "un-get-atble."
Jane's fish bar arrives outside the lodge shortly before 1pm. She drives over from Islay every Wednesday lunchtime and there are eight of us in the rain. The city type in front buys a bunch of samphire, an entire salmon - and all the scallops, the sod.
We settle for two glistening sole and a crab for dinner, a total of £9. A sprig or two of samphire takes it over the tenner mark. The rain keeps falling as we head home, past the Royal Bank of Scotland van that also calls once a week.
In the Jura distillery, nothing stops. Lights burn through the night. In the morning, a big estate car arrives with the number plate D1 URA. The morning distillery tour is just finishing up and they emerge, eight visitors, dressed in identikit chest high waterproofs as they head off to go dolphin watching. All except two Japanese girls waiting for the island's only shop to open, forlornly, as it only opens until 12.30pm every day.
You have to know what's happening, how it works here.
From the top window turret, I watch a fishermen through binoculars in the inner islands, his boat going in circles as he chases the fish. A truck and 4x4 have reversed onto the narrow cob and take in lobster pots. Brave driving,
After the flurry of excitement, all settles down. There's another distillery tour this afternoon, the building the centre of the island's business. The visitors will learn of the distilling going back to 1820. But in fact the plant has closed several times during that period, only reopening in 1963.
The lodge opened a year ago, and among the first visitors were Edinburgh novelist Alexander McCall Smith and his family, watching the island sports in relentless rain, then meeting the same crowd at a ceilidh in the village hall two nights later. He records how the island's champion shotputter kept his title for the 11th year running.
This month, Scottish writer Janice Galloway is in residence, following Will Self and American Philip Gourevitch who both spent a month each at the lodge earlier this year. At other times, it is hired out for £5,000 a week, or £2,500 for weekends.
"It is just perfect," Gourevitch told me. "The landscape and scale of skies are what makes the island: there is a feeling of immensity and it is a place without distractions."
They were the characteristics which attracted Jura's most famous resident writer, George Orwell, who arrived in 1946 to write 1984, living at Barnhill in the remote nothern tip of Jura. We walked there one day from the point where the road runs out and tried to image Orwell in his pony and trap barrelling along the track, whisky and foolscap to hand to the house, nestled in its own valley and looking out over the Jura Firth.
ISLAY

We stayed a couple of nights on the island on the way back from Jura, and should have spent longer. One night was spent at the island's most fashionable hotel, the Port Charlotte Hotel, the other at the excellent Kilmeny guesthouse on a working farm (£50pp).
Co-incidentally, the owner of Kilmeny was named Blair after Orwell (Orwell's real name was Eric Blair) as he spent his childhood on Jura when the author was in residence and the family became friends. One of Orwell's chairs sits in Kilmeny now.
After Jura, Islay's networks of good roads and an airport was a marked change. The island is predominantly agriculture based but is diversifying and looking more to tourism. There is plenty to commend. We spent a happy hour or two at the Islay Wildlife Information Centre: Islay is renowned for its spectacle of migrating bird arrivals.
After lunch at The Coach House next door, we drove to Portnhaven, and stopped for coffee at the An Tigh Seinnse pub - which has a frightening hot chocolate with marshmallows. This is the far western end of the island, so remote that I got a "Welcome to Ireland" text message from T-Mobile. Like Port Charlotte, it is a model village, all slate roofs, white walls and coloured doors and frames.
We also called in at Islay House, where outbuildings have been given over to local businesses. The Islay Brewery is there and, heathen that I am, bought some fine bitter and didn't visit any of the island's distilleries. The kitchen gardens at Islay House are run by volunteers who sell their produce: now they have their eyes on taking over Islay House itself, which is for sale.
Everyone we met was chatty and hospitable - "you can tell the tourists because they don't wave back," said our host at Kilmeny. We ate well on scallops and langoustines at the Harbour Inn in the island's capital, Bowmore, and tried and failed to get into the recommended Loch Side Hotel for a meal but it was full. If we'd only had a third night....

NEED TO KNOW

Information: There is a walking festival on Islay and Jura in April. Reading: Jura, a guide for walkers by Gordon Wright (Dolphin Press, £2.75).
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Distilled Spirits Council Statement Regarding Governor Doyle's Veto of the Distilled Spirits Sampling Provision
The Governor's decision to veto the distilled spirits sampling provision today is unfortunate for Wisconsin consumers and a blow to equal treatment in the marketplace. Beer and wine tastings are already permitted in the state and there is no reason to treat spirits products any differently.

Alcohol is alcohol.

Adult consumers in a modern economy should be given a reasonable and responsible opportunity to sample the growing number of premium distilled spirits products.
The Wisconsin bill limited consumers to three one-half ounce samples of spirits products, totaling 1.5 ounces, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines definition of a standard drink of distilled spirits.
Since 1999, 23 states have passed or expanded consumer spirits tastings laws and Mothers Against Drunk Driving did not oppose any of these bills because the industry insisted on responsible guidelines.

-30-

The Distilled Spirits Council is the trade association representing producers and marketers of distilled spirits sold in the United States.
Website: http://www.distilledspirits.org
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As Tequila sales skyrocket, first American producer claims responsibility.
Temecula, CA - Is an American company responsible for the record sales of Tequila? The Mexican Tequila Regulatory Council recently announced sales of 100% agave spirits, commonly referred to as Premium Tequila, grew by 34.61 percent, from 15.6 million liters (4 million gallons) in 2005 to 21 million liters (5.5 million gallons) in 2005.
"In spite of the controversy surrounding our Made In the USA alternative, sales of premium tequila have skyrocketed", said JB Wagoner, Master Distiller from Skyrocket Distillers LLC. "I don't now if we had much to do with this increased demand and public awareness, but I'll claim it anyway!" Wagoner said gleefully.
Skyrocket Distillers LLC began shipping "JB Wagoner's Ultra Premium 100% Blue Agave Spirits" in 2005 - the first domestically produced 100% blue agave spirit. It's made in small batches using a proprietary distillation system which produces an ultra pure liquor-low in hangover producing compounds.
What's The Difference?
Tequila is a distilled spirit made from the blue agave plant. The best tequilas are always made from 100% blue agave and are typically 80 proof. Skyrocket's product, JB Wagoner's Ultra Premium is also 100% blue agave and 100 proof. It cannot legally be called tequila because, unlike the other blue agave spirits, JB Wagoner's is made in the United States instead of Mexico.

About Skyrocket Distillers LLC

Skyrocket Distillers LLC was inadvertently started when the company's founder, JB Wagoner, began growing agaves as an alternative to water hungry avocados, whose prices were being adversely affected by new NAFTA regulations. The distinctive red, white and blue bottle, with its prominent "Made in the USA" label, was designed to eliminate any question as to its country of origin.

Website: http://www.drinkjbw.com
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Exclusive: The Senator Who Wanted Free Liquor Shots
Mick Trevey

MADISON - The proposal drew criticism from Mothers Against Drunk Driving and raised questions in Madison. At the last minute, language appeared in the state budget that allowed stores to give out free shots of liquor as samples. The legislature passed the budget even though most state senators did not know who was responsible for putting the language into the budget.
TODAY'S TMJ4 has learned that newly named State Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker is responsible for the proposal. Decker is from Schofield, which is in northern Wisconsin.
The proposal would have allowed stores to give someone a maximum of three one-half-ounce shots per day.
TODAY'S TMJ4 also found a possible reason why Decker would have favored the free-shots proposal A check of Decker's campaign finance reports shows one of his biggest donors is Patrick Essie - a lobbyist in Madison who, among other clients, represents the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
Governor Doyle explained why he vetoed the measure by saying, "I just don't think we need to be taking shots of booze in grocery stores." He continued, "driving up in a car, buying your food, with taking shots of liquor, I just don't know. That sort of went over a line and I don't think most people in Wisconsin really want that going on."
An aide to Decker said she did not believe he was involved in the proposal. TODAY'S TMJ4 asked to talk to Senator Decker, but the aide said he spent Friday attending events in his district in northern Wisconsin. The aide claimed bad cell phone service prevented the senator from talking to reporter Mick Trevey.
When TODAY'S TMJ4 contacted lobbyist Patrick Essie, he ended the conversation abruptly and promised to call back "in one minute." He never called back.
Feed back on this
I'm Glad to see Wisconsin wineries got what they needed in the recent budget!
Unfortunately it looks like some brewers got screwed.
As for in store sampling of spirits- it's obviously a dead issue.
Don't know about where you live but the media has been all over this little gem and of course with incorrect info. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did an editorial about how bad having drunk people wandering around the grocery store aisles would be. They followed that up with an editorial cartoon showing a drunk lying on a grocery store conveyor. Their corporate sister TV station (WTMJ) was sensationalizing their story about it in big letters saying "Free Booze!!!" Last night they showed a clip of Governor Jim Doyle saying how shopping while drinking shots of booze was something Wisconsinites didn't want.

Link to the story- be sure to watch the video- http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/10824986.html

Unfortunately the truth that none of these media outlets reported is that Wisconsin already allows beer and wine tasting in stores, and that in fact you can sample up to 6 ounces of wine which in most cases will provide the grocery shopper more alcohol than the liquor tasting limit of 1.5 ounces would have provided.
If you're looking to get into distilling you should be aware that people and in particular politicians do not view spirits in the same warm light as they view beer and wine. Anyone have any idea's on how to combat this prejudice against spirits?

Guy Rehorst
Great Lakes Distillery, LLC
http://www.greatlakesdistillery.com
Ph 414-431-8683
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Moonshine fest honors lightning liquor and fast cars Gala raises money to help disadvantaged kids, families Source: Gainesville Times

Thousands of people gathered in Dawsonville this weekend to toast the 40th Annual Mountain Moonshine Festival.
"There were at least 150,000 people this year," said Gordon Pirkle, a director of the KARE for Kids Inc. program that coordinates the festival. He said the festival raised about $50,000 last year that helped provide clothing, toys and holiday meals for disadvantaged families and children in Dawson County.
"We provide assistance for kids year-round," said Calvin Byrd, president of KARE for Kids Inc. "We helped over 250 kids with back-to-school supplies and medicines this year, and last year we helped 200 families and 500 kids during Christmas."
The two-day festival honored Dawsonville's heritage of moonshine and fast cars with three live entertainment stages featuring cloggers and musicians, more than 400 food and craft vendors, a Saturday parade led by NASCAR legend Bobby Allison and a showcase of more than 300 shiny old cars.
"Dawsonville has always been known as the moonshine capital of the world," Pirkle said.
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TTB'S NEW APPLICATION AND INFORMATIONAL PACKETS

Source: TTB

TTB has developed application and informational packets to help you fulfill Federal requirements and meet your business needs.
The application packets include a combination of required forms, instructions, and tools and resources to assist you in filing an acceptable application. Packets are available for:
Alcohol Producers and Manufacturers
Alcohol Importers, Wholesalers and Exporters
Alcohol Users and Dealers
Firearms and Ammunition
Tobacco Manufacturers, Importers, and Exporters
TTB's informational packets provide instructions on obtaining a special service or fulfilling a special requirement for your type of business. If you lose alcohol or tobacco products as the result of a natural disaster, want to file drawback claims on taxpaid alcohol used to manufacture nonbeverage products, or need to learn more about current Special Occupational Tax (SOT) requirements, there is a packet for you.
Disaster Claims
Manufacturer of Nonbeverage Products (MNBP)
Special (Occupational) Tax (SOT)
To view a complete list of our application and instructions packets
\http://www.ttb.gov/applications/index.shtml
================

Like those microbrews?
How about your own local distillery?
You've had the heirloom tomatoes and artisanal, grass-fed steaks, the small-production wine so perfectly translated from the soil you can almost taste the olive trees growing beside the vine rows. But how about the range of flavors in a heritage whiskey? A lemon vodka made in small batches, with actual lemons? A sophisticated brandy with a gorgeously rich, pure New World essence? The taste for high-end, made-in-America food and drink is not only becoming more refined all the time, it is now being distilled.
Here comes the next wave in what Bluecoat Gin partner Andrew Auwerda calls "the gourmet-fication of America": talented, local micro-distillers with dreams of doing for bourbon, gin and rum what Robert Mondavi did for Cabernet Sauvignon or the Boston Beer Company (nyse: SAM news people ) Samuel Adams did for lager. O pioneers!
Or, really: re-pioneers. As many new distillers are quick to point out, the presently sparse U.S. spirits-making landscape with a relative handful of large whiskey distilleries plus a few big rectifiers making neutral spirits for white liquor is a post Prohibition phenomenon, a historical fluke. America in the 18th and 19th centuries was a land of thousands of licensed stills. (And uncounted, shall we say, informal operations.) "New York alone had 1,200 legal distilleries before Prohibition," claims Ralph Erenzo, a cofounder (in 2003) of Tuthilltown Spirits, the state's first and so far only whiskey producer since Repeal. "What we are witnessing is the rebirth and redevelopment of a national tradition."
It is truly in the American grain, as it were: The number-one-selling spirits marketer of the early Republic was George Washington. His newly restored distillery at Mount Vernon (you can watch the History Channel video George Washington's Liquid Gold) is now touted as "The Gateway to the American Whiskey Trail," a trip that winds mostly through the historic, large distilleries of Kentucky and Tennessee.
A newer version of the American Whiskey Trail would wander considerably farther afield, passing by Tuthilltown in the Hudson Valley, say, and Stranahan's in Denver and Old Potrero in San Francisco. A more general American Distilling Trail would now have to plot routes through Michigan, Vermont, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Texas, on and on. And its map would demand constant updating.
The craft distilling movement perked along for years with a small, clued-in cult following thanks to a few wise godfathers like Ansley Coale and Hubert Germain-Robin at Germain-Robin, Jorg Rupf at St. George Distilling and Fritz Maytag at Anchor Distilling. What's news is the sudden galloping downhill momentum. Seven years ago, according to Bill Owens, who heads up the micro-distillers trade group, American Distilling Institute, there were 30 craft-sized pot stills operating in America. Today there are 96 and counting. Even the Brobdingnagian Anheuser-Busch (nyse: BUD news people ), once slow off the mark in recognizing the potential of micro-brewing, has taken notice and signed on to distribute Vermont Spirits vodka in the Northeast. ("It gives our wholesalers distinctive brands to compete in the profitable, high-end alcohol beverage category," says a well-ironed statement from the company.)
This is all a big deal, though in its own small way. "There is an enormous vacuum between the huge producers and our guys," acknowledges Owens. "Big companies would dump a brand that only sold the 300,000 cases all our members make put together." Put it like this: Smirnoff alone at about 25 million cases a year - vastly outsells the entire annual craft spirits category every week.
But what the small distillers lack in volume, they make up for in harmonic alignment to the zeitgeist. "We are part of the pendulum swing in America to artisan foods and drinks," echoes Stranahan's Jess Graber. "People want organic vegetables, natural beef - simpler things the way they used to be, with their own particular quality."
To achieve that "particular quality," most craft distillers employ variations on small-batch pot stills, the kind of homey, copper kettle - ooking devices you find at single-malt scotch distilleries, as opposed to the giant, continuous-process column stills of the big-volume liquor brands. Stranahan's weekly output of six barrels is about five minutes' worth of production at a big distiller, as Graber notes, but, "We control every step much more minutely." This includes the ability to retain only the perfect heart of the still's output for bottling.
The craft makers' input is special, too. If "local" is the new buzz word in cuisine, count Stranahan's among the believers. Its whiskey is based on barley grown in the northern Rockies and Rocky Mountain water. Meanwhile, up in Portland, Clear Creek bottles eaux-de-vie that showcase the essence of Oregon pears, Vermont Gold distills vodka from maple sap and Cold River, a family farm in the heart of Maine's potato country, produces vodka from its spuds. Down south, Prichard's Sweet Georgia Belle Rum aims to give you, the company says, "visions of magnolia blossoms and honeysuckle vines the aroma of mimosas filling the air." Well, a little marketing stardust never hurt any spirits brand.
In fact, marketing has a lot to do with this whole trend, and the corporate distillers themselves paved the way. "Fifteen years ago, you couldn't imagine anyone paying $35 for a bottle of vodka," says Don Poffenroth of Spokane, Washington's nascent Dry Fly Distilling. "The big guys created the super-premium images and price points that make it practical to do what we do at our scale and sell to the public."
Poffenroth and his business partner, Kent Fleischmann, both former marketing executives in the food services industry, "hit the corporate funk at the same time and came up with this bright idea." They invested about $600,000 in 401k savings and 18 months in run- up time. "We are taking a serious business approach, not the romantic approach you see with a lot of these guys," Poffenroth says. The eventual idea Dry Fly's complex, German-made pot still was in transit "on the water" when we spoke in late August - is to produce between 3,000 and 5,000 cases a year to start, providing a potential revenue stream of about $700,000.
As marketing men, Poffenroth and Fleischmann's plans included "a lot of brand development." Dry Fly's backstory will emphasize the fact that its vodka, gin and whiskey are "tied tightly to individual farmers in eastern Washington. We've really hit the local ingredients; it is almost the 'appellation' approach of a winery."
Of course, if Dry Fly actually were a winery - the state now has more than 500 of them - Washington's licensing and regulatory process would have been routine. With a first-and-only distillery it was anything but, a common story for micro-distillers in most states. (Bluecoat's Auwerda reports the reaction of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board: "Hunh? You want to found a what?") Having navigated the shoals itself, Dry Fly has helped to write a bill that will be presented to the state legislature in January to define the state's stance on "craft distilling." It includes the provisions that such an operation must employ a pot still, cannot simply redistill neutral grain spirits produced elsewhere and - here's the Dry Fly touch - must source at least 50 percent of its ingredients from within the state. Shrugs Poffenroth: "The first guy in gets the privilege of setting the playing field."
Elsewhere, there are signs that the legislative frost that never quite lifted from the spirits business after the Volstead Act may be thawing a bit. The most significant as a potential model for lawmakers elsewhere is the farm distillery law signed by New York governor Eliot Spitzer this summer. It grants the state's micro-distilleries many of the same rights as small wineries - including the right to hold tastings on their premises - which should encourage some ambitious farmers to begin distilling the products of their fields and orchards. There may never be 1,200 small distillers in New York again, but some family farms that are now selling $10 baskets of apples or $5 bundles of corn at their farm stands may happily explore what producing a $35 bottle of apple brandy or corn liquor might do for their bottom line, not to mention their tourism appeal.
Inevitably, there will be trial and plenty of error. Tanqueray didn't get to be Tanqueray overnight, and many of the new craft and farm distillers will no doubt make the liquor equivalent of plonk wine. But there are gems out there already, and tantalizing future prospects. As Bill Owens has it, "It is not that the big brands aren't high-quality; they mostly are. But they are already familiar to us; we know exactly how they taste. These new guys are making spirits with tastes we've never had before." That is worth their quest, and our search.
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Wanted.............master distiller to aid in upstart of a new distillery in ashland, Oregon sometime in Jan-Feb 2008.
Contact: Mary Toney at Cascade Peak Spirits.
541-951-7749
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Craft distillers or artisan glass manufactures we need your help. New Holland Artisan Spirits is looking for a reputable glass manufacture to supply unique affordable glass for its planned distribution of whiskey and rum.
Please send any information to
brett@newhollandbrew.com

Brett VanderKamp
Chief Imagination Officer / President
New Holland Brewing Company
616-355-6422
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'24 hl Alambic still complete. manufactured in France Pot, Pre-heater, condenser. For information contact 831-477-1718'
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Business Opportunity:

Successful small distillery with 40K annual gross revenues and 450 case per year sales. Retail outlets in 100 out of 163 statewide stores. Product sells retail in mid-range for $12 for a 750ml 80 proof bottle. Eight year operating history. Proven system of production. Reliable supplies of component parts. No company debt. Company owns building where plant operates. Existing plant capacity is 20K cases per year.
Favorable regulatory environment in state permits on site retail bottle sales as well as tasting on premises. Brand only requires promotion and marketing only to increase sales. All licenses current, 6 months of inventory on hand. Current equipment capable of 20K cases per year.

Plant capacity with additional equipment would be 50K to 100K cases per year. The company is located in Morgantown, West Virginia, a vibrant college town and home of West Virginia University. The plant is located one mile from interstate 79 with easy shipping and receiving access. Seeking qualified buyer to grow company and continue business.

Price: 750K.

See company website at http://www.mountainmoonshine.com/ Contact principal;

West Virginia Distilling Co., LLC

Attn: Payton Fireman
1380 Fenwick Ave.
Morgantown, WV 26505
Phone: 304-599-0960
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A& J Whiskey Barrels is now selling new charred white oak whiskey barrels.cost of these barrels is $ 210.00 plus shipping.call (513) 253-8591 or email us at ajwhskybrls@gmail.com anytime for orders and shipping quotes. delivery also availible.
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1 Liter round Liquor Bottles, 28 mm screw top finish packed necks down in plain Kraft brown boxes 12 per case.
Originally purchased from Saint Gobain.
Mold number 9935034. $7/case takes all 28 pallets at 91 cases per pallet. Terms can be arranged.
Call Mike at (505) 440 8666

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Here's an euipment development.
Now out a 110 gallon continual feed still. http://coppermoonshinestills.com/id44.html

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Want to go to distilling school?
The distillery school is located at Bruichladdich with master distiller Jim McEwan.
Email jim@bruichladdich.co
Bruichladdich Distillery Limited, Islay, Argyll PA4 7UN Scotland, UK
TEL +44 (0) 496-850-221, Fax +44 (0) 496-850-477
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To read back issues of DISTILLER newsletter?
Go to:
http://distilling.com/backissues.html
====================

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--To obtain a distilled spirits permit go to:
">http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/index.shtml

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--To obtain TTB list of DSPs go to: http://www.ttb.gov/foia//err.shtml

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--To obtain TTB statistics on distilling go to: www.ttb.gov then scroll down to "spirits" and then the "year".
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--To obtain Distilled Spirits Laws and Regulations go to: http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/spirits_regs.shtml

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--To obtain label regulations go to: http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/bam.shtml distilled spirits manual circular.
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