Talisker Distillery

We visited a second distillery today.  This one was actually in production as we passed through (the Tomatin had not been producing when we were there).  This one also infused their barley with peat smoke (about 20 ppm instead of 5 like Tomatin).  This is apparently considered 'medium smoky'.

The mash tank was full and we could see the mash being slowly stirred.  The fermentation tanks were also in various stages of processing, some with just brown liquid in the bottom, others filled with fizzing liquid, and one with a big froth on the top and the CO2 vent pulling off the extra vapors.  (We were told at Tomatin that the amount of CO2 that was vented was less than half that used by the barley crops to grow, so the process apparently remaining carbon neutral or carbon negative - interesting that they felt the need to tell us this).

They also had the 5 distilling tanks working, with various levels of the alcohol evaporating out (at a lower temp than the water), and being separated in the 'spirit see' - a clear glass tank where the custom's agent once worked to make sure the distilleries paid their fair share of taxes on their product.