MILESTONES

We refurbished an old warehouse into an on-site bottling hall. From 2003, we’ve done all of our single malt bottlings on the island, with nothing exported to the Scottish Mainland. Today our bottling lines and supply chain functions employ 26 people full time.

We ignited an Islay barley project with Raymond Stewart. He was the first of our farming partners to raise malting barley on Islay in living memory. He would pave the way for 20 others to join him by 2020.

BERE BARLEY

We first planted Bere barley on Islay in partnership with the University of the Highlands and Islands Agronomy Institute (Orkney). Collaboratively, our work with this six-row landrace would help to keep this ancient grain in commercial circulation, raising its profile and protecting its legacy.

Biodynamic barley first distilled from Yatesbury House Farm near Wiltshire.

Winner of The Energy Institute Environment Award

The Botanist Foundation is established by then-CEO Simon Coughlin, now-CEO Douglas Taylor, our late Head of Communications Carl Reavey and original botanists Richard and Mavis Gulliver. The Foundation would go on to support the RSPB on Islay, the Nature of Scotland awards, wildflower, biodiversity & pollinator initiatives and funding for a PHD student to explore conservation of Scottish juniper.

From 2017 to 2018, we’d plant ~7,500 trees in partnership with The Woodland Trust.

We would start to install LED lights, Passive Infrared Sensors (PIR) sensors in all new builds, phasing across our sites as ongoing maintenance takes place, and installing power inverters to reduce energy consumption across pumps and motors.

Between 2018 and 2019, we completed 539 hours of volunteer work for our local community during work hours

Through an ongoing collaboration with the James Hutton Institute and the UHI Agronomy Institute, we planted 6 varieties of barley (and 27 of wheat) into small plots on our croft. Many were heritage or hybrid varieties designed to test their suitability for growing on the wet, west coast. Hybrid varieties are designed to combine the benefits of conventional varieties such as disease resistance and yield, with characteristics of some heritage varieties such as flavour or long straw. These characteristics are not exclusive to modern or heritage varieties respectively, but hybrids that are bred and tested in local conditions is one of the exciting opportunities we have to develop more sustainable growing in the future. The expertise of these partners will be essential to us testing varieties not currently on the recommended growing list.

We have donated and supported the Islay Community Footpath project which will link the villages of Bruichladdich and Port Charlotte. We have also donated on an ongoing basis to local charitable organisations across art, music and sport.

From 1st May, 100% of the distillery’s electricity is sourced renewably in the UK.

The Botanist partners with the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) to provide funding through The Botanist Foundation. The Global Botanic Garden Fund enables gardens to fund projects that further their work in the prevention of extinction of plants. So far we’ve supported projects in Italy, Uganda, Hawaii, Mexico and South Africa.

We began a feasibility study to investigate the use of hydrogen as a source of green energy. We have the opportunity to be an industry leader in the use of hydrogen, as well as in the use of wind, solar, electric, biomass and alternative fuel (HVO) energy.

This year, we are working with 30 individual growers across Islay and Mainland Scotland. 76% of our barley is traceable back to the farm. We work with our malting partner Bairds to source the other 24% from the Invernesshire region of Scotland.

Building on our ‘One Tin Lighter’ initiative, which has seen us save almost 5,000 tins through our online and distillery shop, we started on our journey of removing outer packaging across our core single malt brands, starting with our heavily peated Port Charlotte. Part of our long-term vision to be more sustainable across all processes, this decision eliminates unnecessary packaging - a move which will significantly reduce carbon emissions, weight and waste.