Interview #1 – Alan Robinson – Port Charlotte 7 – R37

When I started to build the overview of Blood Tubs, I also wanted to learn more about the people behind those casks. While it seems like a no-brainer from today’s perspective, back then, Bruichladdich was just reawakening from hibernation and was not nearly as well-known as today. This was also in the early days of the internet, so the cask options were not widely advertised. Buying and later bottling your own cask seemed like quite an endeavor, especially if you lived outside the UK. I am really glad some enthusiasts went ahead, and we have these amazing and unique whiskies today.

Thanks for your time, Alan. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I used to own an electronics communication company, which I sold a few years ago. Now, I am retired and live with my wife and our dog in Tacoma, Washington. We love to travel, and we both love whisky. We live in a beautiful part of the world known as the Pacific Northwest. We are on an inlet from the Pacific Ocean and are surrounded by snow covered mountains.

How did you get into whisky?
I used to drink a little whisky in the 80s and 90s, mostly the classic whiskies you get at a regular store like distillery releases of Glenlivet, Macallan, etc. In 1999, my wife gifted me a book by Michael Jackson, and I started to get seriously interested. I went online and was lucky enough to meet a group of fellow enthusiasts called PLOWED who also meet once per year for a large tasting in Las Vegas. I had just missed the first “Ardbeggeddon,” but I joined for the next and have attended every one since. I started buying whisky from Whisky Exchange, Royal Mile and Loch Fyne Whiskies, and things escalated from there. I was also a regular bidder at Tom Kruger’s Whisky Auction. Tom and I became friends and I often see him at the Limburg Whisky Fair. I was fortunate to have some disposable income in those days, so I bought a lot of very nice whisky at their original release and still open them regularly. Those were the days when Sukhinder (Whisky Exchange) got a case of six 1972 Rare Malt Brora that he was selling for £199 a bottle. I ordered a bottle, had it shipped to the US, and discovered that I loved it. Amazingly, I could still go back and order another one. In hindsight, I should have bought the whole case!

What is your favourite whisky and why?
That is quite difficult to nail down, but I have a few which stand out for me. One would be the 1967 Signatory Ardbeg Pale Oloroso which we had together in Limburg. This is a very special bottle for me, both emotionally and because it is an amazing cask. I was lucky enough to buy a few of these close to the original release. I am glad I can still drink this amazing whisky today without having to worry about auction prices. There is also the 1972 Ardbeggeddon and the 1972 Brorageddon bottled by our PLOWED group. Both are mind-blowing, and we were quite lucky with the cask selection. Well, and then there is, of course, my own Blood Tub, which I am really happy with how it turned out. It is just astonishing how young whisky can develop into something so amazing..

How did you come up with the idea to buy a Blood Tub, and how was the process?
I was a member of the Spirit of Islay chatroom run by Gordon Homer, where we met every Wednesday. It was evening for the folks over in Europe but around noon for me on the US west coast. We talked about whisky, drank whisky, and had a lot of fun. I met many friends in that chat room that I have since become close with.. It was the time when Murray McDavid had just taken over Bruichladdich, and they needed to generate some cash flow, so they started to sell casks. Gordon was on Islay multiple times per year and was quite interested in Bruichladdich, so he shared that there were options to buy regular casks and the smaller Blood Tubs, and I joined by buying my own Blood Tub.

How did you decide about the right timing to bottle it?
I went to Islay for the first time in 2002 and was able to try a sample. We did a whole tour of the distillery with Jim McEwan and had a great day with lots and lots of amazing whisky. I already loved the cask even after one year, but it was obviously not real whisky yet. I went back in 2005, tried it again, and really loved it. Gordon had already bottled his cask, so I decided to do the same as I was concerned that the heavy cask influence might turn it into wood pulp if I did not bottle it soon. The processes at Bruichladdich got more complicated, though, and it took me years to bottle it. They were stalling at that time, and it was not really a priority for them, so I had to nag them for 2-3 years until they finally bottled it. On top of that, it was a real challenge to get the bottles imported into the USA as I needed 75cl bottles and had to get the labels approved by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol (ATF), which took multiple submissions. Overall, it took me another 1-2 years to finally get them approved and align the bottles to be shipped.

Was there something special with the cask? I believe your cask had the lowest yield of any known Blood Tub with just 24 bottles.
The actual yield was 26 bottles. I attribute the low outturn to the delays in bottling. I made an agreement with Gordon that if he would pick up two bottles and send me one to Limburg, he could keep the other. So, I was finally able to hold my first bottle in hand when I checked in at the Nassauer Hof Hotel for the Limburg Whisky Festival in 2011 and opened it there. I was really excited to finally taste my finished cask. Needless to say, I was thrilled and the bottle was empty when I left Limburg.

Let’s talk about your whisky and the sample
Here is a link to the tasting notes

What did you do with your bottles and do you have any left?
I shared them with friends, drank them, and traded with another cask owner. I have about six bottles left.

Do you know any other cask owners?
I know Gordon from the days of the Spirits of Islay chatroom, and we have stayed in contact. There is Martin Brunet, who has his own Blood Tub, and we agreed to swap bottles, but he lives in Canada and it is difficult to send and receive whisky from there.. There was also Don Lamon, who bought one cask each of Bruichladdich and Port Charlotte but sadly got terminally ill. He tried to sign over his casks to a friend in LA, but that did not work out. That was ten years ago, but maybe the cask is still there? I know one more guy who also bought a cask of Port Charlotte and one cask of Bruichladdich.

Did you have any other casks or any plans to buy another cask?
Back in May 2001, several members of our PLOWED group purchased five casks of Springbank. No one thought back then that Springbank would become the star that it is today. We bought one Sherry, one Rum, one Port, and two Bourbon casks. I personally purchased one-third of the Sherry, Rum, and Port casks for prices which feel great compared to today’s Springbank releases. We tried samples at age 1, 4 and 10 and found they were coming along nicely but that maybe we should consider bottling one or two casks then. We were all drinking lots of whisky at the time and couldn’t agree on anything. The next time I tried them was in the summer of 2023. We were blown away by how incredibly good ALL of them were. It was agreed that we would be bottling some of them soon but as of the summer of 2024 I do not think anything has been bottled.When we finally bottle them we will have lots of amazing Springbank to drink with our friends.

In 2002 Gordon Homer assembled a group called Spirit of Islay to buy a full-size refill sherry cask of Port Charlotte. I was fortunate to be one of the 20 shareholders. 15 years later each shareholder was rewarded with 14 bottles of incredible whisky.

When I finally got my original bloodtub bottled in 2009 I asked if it was possible to refill it. They would not fill it with Port Charlotte but they did fill it with Bruichladdich. Ten years later I was rewarded with another 24 bottles of amazing whisky.

Thanks for your time, Alan, and the amazing whiskies we tried together. Good luck with your remaining casks, and see you soon!