Snowflakes are falling on the distillery, so it’s the perfect time to send my Christmas card and write my end of year letter to you.

As always it has been a really busy year. So let’s start with the changes at home.

The Distillery and Islay
We opened our own Cooperage this year. It’s a fantastic facility to have at the distillery as there is always work to do on the thousands of barrels, butts, hogsheads and, of course, our special Quarter Casks. The cooperage also features in a new Laphroaig film that we have shot for release next year. We have also added a new lift in our original Warehouse Number 1 right by the sea. This will give us access to the two top floors once again where we will be able to mature an additional 7,500 barrels. Production remains busy at the distillery and we will, by year end, have created a new production record – so a big thanks go to all the team for this great achievement.

The other new physical addition is the Laphroaig Museum – this is situated next to the Friends of Laphroaig members lounge. The beautiful slate floor was only finished last week and the final historical memorabilia will be added before Christmas with luck.

Online, the big development was the launch of our official Laphroaig Facebook page. I try to save emails for only the important communications to the Friends so Facebook is a brilliant way for us to tell you about events as and when they happen. It’s proved hugely popular with over 45,000 of you joining in the first 9 months. If you have not had a look, please do – you can even see pictures of yours truly sporting a ridiculous moustache for Movember! Thanks by the way for all of you that sponsored me, the total amount raised was in excess of £1300, thanks to your generosity. You can find our page by searching for ‘Laphroaig’ on Facebook or by going to http://www.facebook.com/laphroaig.

Talking of new construction projects, I should also add that 2 new piers are being constructed at Port Ellen and Port Askaig. Nice though this is, the truth appears to be that when the new (larger) ferry was ordered in 2007, nobody checked to see whether it would fit the existing structures!

The Feis Ile
This year’s Feis Ile in May was the best yet. Of course we released our annual Friends bottling, called Cairdeas Master Edition, specially created by our Master Blender, Robert Hicks. As usual, it sold out in a couple of weeks. I have of course passed on all the many lovely comments you sent me about it to Robert. 2011 is my turn, so I hope you enjoy my selection as much as you did his!

We also ran boat tasting trips where we sailed visiting Friends around our neighbouring island, Texa, whilst Simon Brooking, our Laphroaig Ambassador for North America, conducted tastings and regaled his captive audiences with Scottish folk songs. The Sensory Tour and our Chef Master Classes also proved very popular. But the highlight of the week was actually on the Sunday when we held our first official Laphroaig Gathering. Unfortunately it was limited to the first 300 Friends, and they all turned up to put on their special wellies, receive their engraved toasting glasses and visit the Plots – where we all shared a toast with Cairdeas. Since then I have presided over 2 further official Gatherings, one in Jerez, Spain, and a second at the Statue of Liberty, New York.

Laphroaig Live 2010
Talking of Jerez, Spain, this was the location of our fourth Laphroaig Live broadcast. Once again it broke all viewing records – so thank you for tuning in on the night and sending in so many questions. The hot topic you all wanted to know more about was our new expression, Triple Wood, which enjoys its third maturation in Spanish Oloroso sherry casks, hence our Spanish location. You all wanted to know when it would be coming into general retail; the answer is (we hope!) September 2011. Oh, and the second most popular request was for the next Laphroaig Live to be in different FOL’s own countries! Well, as always, that has to be a secret – but, it will be my first trip down there and I am really looking forward to meeting you all. That’s all I’m saying for now!

International
This year the Laphroaig team have met Friends all over the world. I have conducted tastings in Sweden, Finland, UK, Spain and The USA. Robert has travelled to India, South Africa, Japan, France, Romania and Brazil. Simon has covered the length and breadth of America and Canada, and Vicky visited Sweden and Norway.

Whilst I don’t like to boast, I was really pleased with this year’s hoard of international medals, bagging Gold, Double Gold and Best in Class from the 3 main independent competitions. But, for me, the highlight was the Best Cask Strength Whisky award for our 25 year old.

Well, that’s all for now. A big thanks once again for all your letters. emails and postcards over the year – keep them coming, we love them. Have a super holiday season and, as always, I will be toasting you all on our special day in Scotland – Hogmanay.

Slàinte Math

John Campbell
Laphroaig Distillery Manager

Friends of Laphroaig web site
http://www.laphroaig.com/friends

Laphroaig Distillery, Port Ellen, Isle of Islay, Argyll, PA42 7DU, Tel. 01496 302418

Enjoy responsibly – http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/

D Johnston & Company (Laphroaig) Ltd, 310 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, registered in the United Kingdom, registration number SC028072