The journey to Jura is no easy feat. Whether you go by plane into the neighbouring isle of Islay, and take the ferry from there, or go overland in the summer months to the Jura passenger ferry at Tayvallich, it’s not a quick trip to this Island of Deer.
But arriving at this small, one-track road isle off of Scotland’s west coast feels like such an achievement that a reward of a dram straight off the boat is no doubt welcomed by all visitors who make it this far.
The island itself is one of outstanding natural beauty — rough and rocky, eerily quiet, and teeming with majestic herds of deer. Visiting there makes one feel that time has stood still for this little part of the world.
The first sight that greets the eye as the boat slows to a halt at the pier is the island’s only hotel — the Jura Hotel, to keep things simple — and the distillery that has taken its name from the island since the start of the 19th century.
My own recent visit was intended to explore more of this island distillery, to learn of its history but also of its plans for a growing future in the modern world. The whiskies from Jura are well known to consumers globally, especially in the UK where it is ranked the number one malt in the off-trade by volume. But change is afoot for this community-run distillery — it may be big in the outside world, but on Jura, it is the local, islander’s malt, made by them day in, day out.
The brand is undergoing a major shift with the news that its 10 Years Old will be replaced by a 12 Years Old as the youngest in its fleet of releases come October this year. While many brands have gone down the no-age-statement route over the last 10 years in favour of dropping age statements, or decreasing entry level malts to a younger age, it’s a significant turn for a brand that has such high-volume sales.
The decision has come after a substantial amount of consumer research, according to the brand team, which found that the taste test preference was consistently for the slightly older malt. With all the distillery’s production from the last two years going solely to single malt, reserves have been slowly stacking up in the warehouses to safeguard the future of longer-aged malt.
The new packs will also be fully recyclable, with a removable cardboard sleeve, something that is a welcome move in a world where many brands still have non-recyclable outer packaging. And, in a move meant to assist the consumer in breaking down the normal whisky rhetoric, the brand has updated its packaging with simple to read flavour descriptors which rank each of the expression’s key tasting notes in order of strength from one to six. The 12 Years Old, for instance, has flavours of peach rated at four, citrus at three, and walnut at three.
According to Claire Blackadder, head of brand for Jura, “People tell us that buying a whisky can be baffling, and with the overuse of technical terms customers often leave a store empty handed. Not everyone is a whisky expert, and the most important thing people want to know is what the whisky will taste like.”
The distillery’s design is a key part of how its flavour profile develops. While its fermentations of around 54 hours are fairly standard in the Scotch whisky industry, it is the extremely tall necks on the stills which help increase copper contact during distillation and lead to a fruitier, light spirit character.
The distillery was initially designed and opened in 1810, but afar a series of events saw the distillery go silent and finally shut in the 1930s, a new era beckoned when it was bought by islanders in the 1960s. The story goes that when the distillery was redesigned by distillery architect de rigueur of the time William Delmé Evans, the goal was to try and have some of the tallest stills in Scotland. With everything being transported by boat, the team brought over the tallest ones that were possible to move by sea at the time, making them slightly shorter than the giraffe-height ones at Glenmorangie, but not by much.
At the warehouse, we taste the new make straight off of the still. Alongside the dusty, woody notes of the maturing barrels, the new make surprises. On the nose it is grassy, with fruity notes of apple blossom and wet stones, with an incredibly creamy palate bursting with notes of cherries and wet grass. Its bright and inviting, and surprisingly palatable at full strength.
It is this more delicate flavour profile that the team — many of whom are fairly new to the brand — want to start shouting about more in future releases.
“We don’t want to lose the charm and character, so don’t want to use heavy casks that overwhelm the spirit. At the same time, we don’t want to come in and reinvent Jura. We will be continuing the legacy but entering a new chapter,” explained Joe Ricketts, Jura’s whisky maker, during the warehouse tasting.
This will include exploring the potential use of a variety of interesting new casks, such as ones that previously held Cognac, Amontillado sherry, Sauternes wine, and rye.
It’s an exciting move for a brand that has previously favoured heavier, richer casks which have tended to lead to a richer flavour profile in the final bottling. Tasting the new make, I was surprised at its delicacy and when exploring more future potential releases during the warehouse tasting, it was clear the team is focused on bringing out its roots and showcasing another side of Jura to the consumer.
Roots are clearly at the heart of this distillery. There are only a handful of employers on this island, which once had a few thousand residents. Today there are fewer than 300 humans, and more than 5,000 deer. Those that remain put the community first and foremost.
During our visit, we meet local photographer Konrad Borkowski, who has worked with the distillery. Originally from Poland, he fell in love with Jura and made it his home, capturing the local beauty of the haunting landscape and animals that reside there. It is the uniqueness of the island’s landscape that brings him back time and again after travelling the world for his photography work.
The local cafe, now called the Antlers Bakehouse and Bar, has recently been taken over by a pair of young couples, two of whom run the island’s rum distillery — Deer Island — and two who run the bakehouse. It’s now a place for supper clubs and a glass of good wine, and of course a local rum or whisky. There is a youthfulness being injected into the island, bringing a freshness to the place, much like the freshness brought to the revamp of the isle’s whisky.
So as the island itself seems to feel like it is undergoing a revamp of sorts, it makes sense that the whisky does too. As we leave Jura via a bumpy speedboat ride back to the pier at Tayvallich, it is with a sense that exciting things are afoot, that people are waking up to the unique charm and potential of this island like never before. And for those who make the long journey to its shores, the reward of getting there will be ever sweeter.
