Jura Seven Wood Single Malt Scotch Whisky

 Aromas of sugar fruits, mint and slight smoke. The woods and fruits blended harmoniously and the slight smoke adds depth. D&M Tasting Notes

Across a narrow straight from Islay sixty miles from mainland Scotland, Jura as an island has 25 times more deer than people, with the island's human population resting these days at around 212 people. (The number of deer sits at about 5,000.) The isle is famous for being where George Orwell crafted his dystopian classic Nineteen Eighty-Four in the final years of his life. Orwell himself once called Jura “extemely unget-at-able.” The intervening 70 odd years have only slightly improved the situation: there remains one town, one pub, and one road.

The Jura Distillery is located in the only town on Jura: Craighouse. The Jura Distilling Company was formed in 1810 when Archibald Campbell decided to begin legally distilling. As one would expect from a gentleman with a name like Archibald, he was in fact the owner of the entire island, and looking for an industry and storehouse of value for his crops. Looking at this date in isolation would make Jura one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland except for one little thing: the historical Jura distillery was completely dismantled in the early 1900s. As these things often go, it was a battle between two men that led to Jura ceasing to be for half a century. The then owner-operator of the distillery James Ferguson, after a conflict with island owner Colin Campbell, completely disassembled the distillery and shipped it to the mainland in a huff. In the 1960s Robin Fletcher and Tony Riley-Smith, the owners of some of the largest estates on Jura, took it upon themselves to avert the further fall of the island’s population and give the remaining residents a reason to stay. They secured financial backing from Leith-based blenders Charles Mackinlay & Co. and hired the famous designer William Delme-Evans to build a large, modern distillery on the site of the long vanished original distillery. After this 1963 refounding, the distillery was further expanded in 1978 to its current size. The water comes from the Loch a’Bhaile Mhargaidh, located a little over 2 kilometres inland from the distillery. The malted barley has come from the Port Ellen malting facilities on Islay since 1978. The six washbacks at the distillery are stainless steel and Jura employs a semi-lauter style mash tun.

The stills are quite uniquely shaped. The narrow waist muffin top at the base of the neck will reflux the alcohol vapor back into the still itself, which in terms produces a prettier and more barley slash fruit forward style of spirit. The vapor from the stills will exit the lyne arm and go to condensers outside the building. Of the 2.2 million liters of pure alcohol per year that is produced, a good portion is set aside for release as a single malt. Michael Kennel, D&M

42% abv