Today the bulk of the malt used in whisky production is produced in drum maltings according to exact specifications of the distilleries what you read here is a look into the past.
Does ardbeg do floor maltings.
If your first proper distillery tour was one with floor maltings it can be a hard act to follow.
Floor malting is the historic technique of preparing barley for fermentation.
Although the production of barley malt always includes steeping germination and drying two different production methods have emerged.
Once the malt arrives at the distillery it is stored in malt bins for a few days before being crushed into a substance called grist in a malt mill.
There have been no floor maltings at ardbeg since 1981 so all the malt that is used in production hails from the maltings in the village of port ellen.
Collection level 551 147 john r hume item level sc 573000 islay ardbeg distillery maltings.
Seeing the sea of grain on the floor the smouldering bricks of peat in the kiln and the blue smoke wafting from the pagoda roof it all seemed wonderfully artisan and self contained.
As i mentioned in a post about my visit to laphraoig only a few scotch whisky distilleries do their own malting.
The traditional malt house was largely phased out during the twentieth century in favour of more mechanised production.
Ardbeg uses the most phenolic malt in the business i e.
A malt house malt barn or maltings is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth.
Below you can see pictures of different maltings.
It is one of six scottish distilleries still working with traditional floor maltings and.
Turning it into malted barley.
Mine was bowmore where i was taken around by the then manager jim mcewan.
The traditional tools for this hard labor are a wooden malt.
While on the floor the germinating grain must be turned by hand twice a day 7 days a week to keep it properly oxygenated to dissipate heat and to keep rootlets from tangling the malt into an unmanageable mat.
Well laphroaig does some of its own floor maltings but this covers only a small percentage of the barley it needs i ve read 30 the rest comes from port ellen.
The distillery uses barley grown on site at rockside farm and malted at the distillery as well as malt from the port ellen maltings and releases separate bottlings depending on the source of the grain.
The malt is used in brewing beer whisky and in certain foods.
My next was lagavulin 16 also very nice though i prefer the ardbeg if im being honest.
Most of the 100 distilleries in scotland purchase malted barley from commercial malting.
Interior view of malting floor.
There have been no floor maltings at ardbeg since 1977 so all the malt that is used in the production of ardbeg comes from the maltings in port ellen.
My first foray into islay whiskey came in the form of ardbeg 10 which i absolutely love.
