Scotland Whiskey Festival 2026

We left Troon at about 5pm and traveled overnight to Port Charlotte on the island of Isley. It was a bouncy ride for those of us in the bow of the ship, and I didn't get much sleep until we tied up early in the morning.

Port Charlotte (Scottish Gaelic: Port Sgioba) is a village on the island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. It was founded in 1828. In 1991 it had a population of 350. On 24 September 1828 the foundation stone of the pier was laid at a fete attended by 4,000 of Walter Frederick Campbell's tenants.[2] Port Charlotte was named after Lady Charlotte Campbell Bury, the mother of its founder Walter Frederick Campbell; and it was set up mainly to provide housing facilities for the Lochindaal Distillery work force. By 1833 a chapel had been built in the village which was in use but far from complete. In 1846 contractors were invited to construct a quay at Port Charlotte, which was funded by Thomas Pattison, Distiller of Octomore and designed by Mr. Pitbladdo of Bridgend and this was completed by 1848. Parts of the former distillery buildings are now in use as Youth Hostel and Wildlife Centre. Others are currently used by a garage nearby. The remaining warehouses are currently owned and used by Bruichladdich distillery to mature their Port Charlotte heavily peated spirit, named in tribute to the village and original distillery. The village is located on the shores of Loch Indaal and is very picturesque with its white-painted houses. It is home to the Museum of Islay Life which is located in a former Church building.

We took a walk towards Port Charlotte this morning cloudy but dry and attended the sold out Bruichladdich Distillery Whiskey Festival this afternoon. The festivals go on for about 10 days throughout Scotland and we will attend a bunch of them.

Bruichladdich was built in 1881 by the Harvey brothers—William (32), John (31) and Robert (23)—on the shore of Loch Indaal, on the Rinns of Islay, the westernmost part of the island. The Harveys were a dynastic whisky family that had owned two Glasgow distilleries since 1770. Using an inheritance, the three brothers combined their talents to build a third distillery—Bruichladdich—designed by John, engineered by Robert, and financed by William and other family members. At the time, the distillery was a state-of-the-art design unlike Islay's older distilleries, which had developed from old farm buildings. It was built from stone from the sea shore and has a very efficient layout, built around a large, spacious courtyard. The uniquely tall and narrow-necked stills were chosen to produce a very pure and original spirit, the opposite of the styles produced by the older farm distilleries. Bruichladdich was run by William Harvey, after a quarrel with his brothers before the distillery was even completed, until a fire on 8 April 1933 and his death in 1936. It was then owned by Associated Scottish Distilleries Ltd. In 1969 it was sold by Bruichladdich Proprietors Ltd to Invergordon Distillers Ltd. It was then purchased by Whyte and Mackay and in 1994 it was shut down as being 'surplus to requirements'. The distillery was subsequently purchased by a group of private investors led by Mark Reynier of Murray McDavid on 19 December 2000. Jim McEwan, who had worked at Bowmore Distillery since the age of 15, was hired as master distiller and production director. Between January and May 2001 the whole distillery was dismantled and reassembled, with the original Victorian décor and equipment retained. Having escaped modernisation, most of the original Harvey machinery is still in use today. No computers are used in production with all processes controlled by a pool of skilled artisans who pass on information orally and largely measure progress using dipsticks and simple flotation devices.