THE JURA DISTILLERY
stillhouse
The Jura Distillery has been around since the early 1800s, experiencing periods of closure and changes of ownership throughout its existence, just like many other scotch distilleries. Jura produces a lovely array of single malts, and is currently in the process of expanding into new markets with a new selection of lightly peated whiskies, riding the current wave of interest worldwide in both high-quality sipping whiskies and whiskies to be used as the base for craft cocktails. The distillery receives malted barley—already peated—from the mainland, and uses this as the base for its mash. The sweet wort is then fermented in stainless steel fermentation tanks into a low alcohol distiller’s beer, and this is subsequently double distilled on their tall elegant copper stills, before being cut with water and aged in casks formerly used for bourbon, sherry, or wine. The Jura Distillery has a warehouse on site where its staff age some of the stock, but a good amount of the whisky is transported in the barrel to the mainland to be aged in larger warehouses in the highlands. All of the bottling is done off site as well.
To meet demand, the mash tons, fermenters, and stills work around the clock — 24 hours per day, 7 days per week — and the air around the entire complex smells wonderfully sweet and bready. The staff work one of three 8-hour shifts, carefully making sure that each batch of whisky is fermented and distilled to spec each and every time. Late at night, a light can be seen in the upstairs staff room window, along with the occasional silhouette, signaling the presence of the two-person night crew, sipping tea and monitoring the instruments that tell them that the fermentations and distillations are going well.
The distillery has its own small shop and visitors’ center to cater to the “whisky tourists” that visit the island throughout the year, and a large selection of Jura whiskies are also sold at the Jura Pub, which stands literally 15 feet away from the distillery’s office doors. The Jura distillery even comes complete with its own distillery cat, Elvis, as much a resident as any person living on the island and beloved and cared for by the whole community.
