On the Road with The Malt Project - Part 1
I had been planning for some time to write a story about The Malt Project. If you are not familiar with The Malt Project it is a five (and soon to be six) volume DVD series all about Single Malt Scotch.
When I started corresponding with Jack Oswald, I found out that he was in the midst of completing production on the latest volume in the series.
I thought it would be great if Jack could tell us, in his own words, about The Malt Project and how it got started. Jack was happy to oblige, and here is the result...
At the end of each segment of this 2-parter there is a chance for one lucky reader to win an "I'm a Peat Freak! Are You?" t-shirt from The Malt Project.
On the Road with The Malt Project Part 1– by Jack Oswald
Seventeen days, seventeen hundred miles, 8 car ferry trips and 22 distilleries later, we arrived back in Phoenix with 16 hours of new high quality digital video for The Malt Project.
It began in 2001, during a quiet little tasting of several malts with two friends and former students of mine from USC’s School of Cinema. I was about to formally retire from my previously owned production company in Pasadena, California and I had decided it was time to stop teaching at SC and move to Arizona. I said to my two friends, “Let’s go to Scotland and shoot a documentary about Malts.” Maybe it was the malts, but they agreed to do it.
Well, in the fall of 2002 it got off the ground with a three week trip to Scotland broadly covering Speyside, Islay, the Lowlands and Highlands. Our initial idea was developing one or several TV programs for cable but we found it very hard to place material about spirits on the tube. So, my associates, Dylan Weiss, Bill Lenz and Michael Smith put our heads together and decided let’s go with a DVD series. Our first was a 2 disc set on The Distilleries of Islay.
Basically each volume takes you on a visit to specific distilleries, usually with the distillery manager or master distiller and we try to do a nosing/tasting of the current expressions from that distillery. Our idea is to take you to the distillery you’d like to visit but probably can’t get there as soon as you’d like.
The following year we returned to Islay and did a special volume on The Islay Music and Malt Festival featuring Clann and Drumma and the remaining two Islay distilleries, and Jura (that weren’t on Volume One). We also added in-depth interviews with Michael Jackson and Martine Nouet. We’ve tried hard to do special sections on whisky and food. Martine has been great in helping with that.
In 2004 we made the decision to give equal prominence to The Spirit of Speyside Festival. Off we went with old friend, filmmaker and cameraman, Todd Rainsberger and my son Jeff. We spent a wonderful week in Speyside; added a couple of new distilleries to those already covered (but making sure we could return to one of our favorites; Mortlach).
We also decided that Auchentoshan was the only Lowland distillery we hadn’t covered, so we wound up that trip visiting “The Glasgow Distillery”. Soon after, we completed Volume Three which also contained some special sections on Food and Whisky and The Business of Whisky. And, on to Volume Four, The Distilleries of Speyside. Speyside has nearly 50 operating distilleries and we covered 14; plus interviews with Chivas Master Blender, Colin Scott, Glenmorangie’s distilleries manager Dr. Bill Lumsden and Diageo’s Classic Malt guru, Dr. Nick Morgan.
Of course, now that we finished Volume 4, we had to premier it back in Speyside for the 2005 Spring Spirit of Speyside and shoot more material for what was to become Volume Five, The Spirit of Speyside Festival (our only single disk DVD). We completed post on Volume Five (which is the major role that my production partner Dylan Weiss plays) and that’s what brought us up to 2006.
I had always felt there were a handful of Speyside distilleries where we hadn’t filmed and I really wanted to wind up the series with a volume on The Islands. We had done Islay and Jura and Talisker but there were still about half a dozen we should visit. And, that’s where the 1700 miles and 17 days came in.
We returned to The Spirit of Speyside Festival (it’s so easy to became a regular). We have so many friends there now; it was like old home week. Todd Rainsberger (who before working with us in 2003 had never had single malt, is a now self described expert). So Todd, my wife Jean and I were off on an unbelievable tight schedule that we kept almost to the minute.
While in Speyside we shot new material at what I would call “the off the beaten path” Speyside distilleries. They’ll find a place on Volume Six. We went to Glendronach where I had some of the most exciting malts from first and second fill Sherry casks. We went to another lesser known Chivas Brothers distillery, Glenallachie who produces most of their spirit for blending, but have released cask strength; sherry aged malt that’s terrific (but, unfortunately is only available at their visitor centers). Nearly everyone who has visited Speyside drives along Route 95 and passes a large distillery; but have never stopped because there’s no real visitor option. That distillery is Tormore, a great modern distillery and they produce a very pleasant lighter expression.
One of the newest distilleries in Scotland is Allt-a-Bhainne. It was built in 1975 by Seagram’s and then mothballed in 2002 when Pernod Ricard and Chivas took it over. It was recently reopened and is unique in its building, style and design. We tasted a new spirit and 18 year old single malt that was very pleasing. (Most all of their spirits go into blends.) Another previously mothballed distillery in Speyside is Benriach, which is located on the same property as Longmorn. Benriach was sold to Billy Walker and his associates in 2005. They have done a superb job in reopening the distillery and have released a number of expressions that have been well received. One of the surprises of the 2006 Speyside Festival Gala Opening was a tasting of eight Speyside malts in a judging of different aged spirits. Benriach’s heavily peated malt didn’t win but it came through and almost passed as an Ardbeg. We rounded out our off the beaten path Speysides with a visit to Glenrothes; a well thought of distillery, dating back to 1877 (or 1878, depending on which building you look at).
Covering those distilleries and trying to take advantage of the Spirit of Speyside really became a time management act. We also exhibited at their Whisky Fair and found time for interviews with Whisky Magazine Editor, Dominic Roscrow; Fine Expressions Editor and whisky author Gavin Smith and the French edition editor of Whisky Magazine, Martine Nouet. We centered our discussions around “the island whiskies” and you’ll find their thoughts very interesting on Volume Six.
Jack enjoys a 30 year old Oban as Todd covers the discussion with (off screen) Oban Manager Kenny Gray.
Next Week - We'll find out more about what's on the upcoming Volume 6.
And now your chance to win* the first of two "I'm a Peat Freak! Are You?" shirt from The
Malt Project. Today's Shirt is a Large.
The answer can be found on the Malt Project site.
Which volume features an interview with Martine Nouet?
If you don't win this shirt, there will be another one given away at the end of the second part of this story. OR better yet - purchase one directly from The Malt Project for $12.
You can also order any of the DVD volumes by visiting The Malt Project.
Remember the rules:
- Be the first person to email me.
- Include your Postal/Zip Code.
- I will notify the winner and let you know the shipping cost.
- I will NOT notify you if you did not win.
- The winner must respond with payment within 48 hours, or the offer goes to the next person who responded.
- Payment is by PayPal only.
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