#zeroexperience

So a teacher and a nurse walk into a whisky distillery...

After the craziness of the previous week and having arrived on Islay one day before we began work at Lagavulin, we were excited and a little nervous to get stuck into working at a whisky distillery. Keen beans 😊 While I had worked in hospitality and retail previously, it would be a whole new world for Alex. Luckily, enthusiasm trumps skill every time 😉

We had an incredibly warm greeting from the management team (hugs all round!) who were really excited for us to be there. We met the members of the team and quickly got stuck into the rhythms of the day, ready to soak up as much as we could.

Across the first week we shadowed various tours to get to know all the facts and figures that we would soon be repeating to the hundreds of tourists who come through the doors each week. As well as this, there are 14+ bottles of Lagavulin to remember and talk to customers about, each with their own specialty maturation process, flavour profile, and ABV (alcohol by volume).

And the hardest thing of all was the HOMEWORK – we received small bottles (we call them driver’s drams) of the various whiskies to taste so we could get to know the flavour profiles and characteristics of each in order to recommend them to customers. Life is so hard!

We have had an awesome start to work life in a whisky distillery. The Lagavulin team have been so welcoming and patient with our (many!) questions. In time we expect to have a stronger grasp of the specifics of whisky distillation and everything Lagavulin.