September 2006
The Third Edition of "A Whiff of Peat Smoke...." , Why ? because i can !
End of an Era .......
It has been announced on the Ardbeg site that Stuart Thomson is leaving the distillery .....
Dear Committee Members and friends,
As your Chairman for the last five and a half years I have thoroughly enjoyed watching our beloved Ardbeg grow from a whisky known by a few to a malt increasingly recognised across the world.
Who would have believed this could have happened when I arrived in 1997 with the backing of The Glenmorangie Company to breathe new life into a Distillery that by all measures was nearly lost forever. The transformation in those 9 years has been quite extraordinary, extremely exciting and yes, from time to time a little scary... especially when the roof of the Old Kiln blew off in the hurricane of January 1999!
The passion and enthusiasm you have shown for Ardbeg and indeed the support you have given me and the team at the Distillery has been one of the most rewarding parts of my job. Many of you have made the arduous journey to Islay to wonder along with myself at the remarkable renaissance of this proud Distillery.
In no small measure this is down to you, the Committee, who have spread the word about Ardbeg and its indomitable spirit to the four corners of the globe to the extent that the Committee now numbers some 35,000 members in 112 countries!
So it is with great regret that this note announces my departure from Ardbeg. I have been considering this for some time not because of any dimming of my passion for The Ultimate Islay Malt - more because there comes a time in life when it's quite simply time for a change.
I shall be leaving Ardbeg soon to go off to pastures new, but one thing I will always carry with me are memories of all the conversations, e-mails, tastings, discussions, debates and comradeship we have had over the years. My admiration for Ardbeg under Glenmorangie’s stewardship remains as strong as ever.
I wish my successor well and go off to my next adventure bolstered with pride in all that I and the team at the Distillery and Old Kiln have achieved together. I, of course, remain a member of the Committee and look forward to keeping in touch.
Slainte
Stuart Thomson
Myself and Mel have grown to know theThomsons very well over the past few years and have , with a lot of other people , come to associate Ardbeg and the Old Kiln with them , the place won't be the same without them . We wish them the very best with future ventures and look forward to catching up with them in the future .
The W-Files
New for the Autumn Schedules a brand new series for the discerning viewer.....
We join Agents Skullduggery and Mulledwine on a small island off the west coast of Scotland standing next to a pile of casks......."ok Mulledwine" asks Skullduggery "explain to me again why we're on this island ?" , "Well Dug , there's been some strange going-ons amongst the casks down here" . So where did this tip off come from Mulledwine ? not the same place as the WMD one the last time we were over here i hope ? ". " no " replies Mull "This one was from an anonymous member of THE FORUM , apparently some empty casks were photographed a couple of years ago and then recently the contents appeared , bottled , no one knows what happened to the stuff in between these dates......they could have been abducted by aliens......." . Skullduggery gives a big sigh then says " Not again Mulledwine , why everytime something happens is there a conspiracy theory ?" , "Ah but this time The manager of the establishment has vanished as well " replies Mulledwine . "No he hasn't , he's handed in his notice and moved on somewhere else ! and as for the missing contents , they could've been put into another container for that period !" "Ehhh...so the ......" "ok Mulledwine lets look at it this way , you have too much time on your hands in the office , too much time scouring these websites picking up theories from other people who should be , like you , doing proper work while in the office , Jesus ! take up origami or something....." "And For F*$£ sake just enjoy your whisky without having to dissect every little detail and happening !!!!" Mulledwine thinks for a little while then walks off into a fade out ....
Da , do , do , do , do , dum.......
Return of the Saturday Chat
From the 23rd the monthly Saturday Night Chat (A.K.A. The T-A-D ) returns to the Stillroom . The times are slightly different to the Weekly Chat :-
Central Eur - 10pm
UK time - 9pm
Eastern US - 4pm
Central US - 3pm
Mountain US - 2pm
Pacific US - 1pm
All are welcome , just bring a dram !
