When Scotland's Bruichladdich distillery asked BT to provide them with broadband, BT checked their postcode and readily agreed. Sadly for BT, the postcode proved not to be where they thought it was, but by the time they discovered that the distillery was on the island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides, the contract was signed. As a result, Bruichladdich's broadband service is beamed in by satellite from Edinburgh via Northern Ireland, and back again.
When the company's managing director, Mark Reynier, tells me this story, it's with the delight of someone enjoying getting one over on the big boys. Bruichladdich is the only independent distillery on Islay, which has the biggest concentration of them in the whole of Scotland. There are seven altogether on an island of only 3,000 people, and the others - including famous names such as Ardbeg and Laphroaig - are all owned by international conglomerates.
Bruichladdich was bought in 2000 by a consortium, which included many local people, and is now back in full production. It has a maverick feel to it, and in August is launching what must be every dram-lover's dream: live online whisky-tasting sessions.
The idea came from Jim McEwan, the master distiller, born on Islay and on August 1 celebrating 40 years in the whisky trade. McEwan spent six years training as a cooper before moving to Glasgow for several years to learn how to become a blender, and he now has one of the most respected whisky noses in the business. "What Jim doesn't know about whisky you can write on the back of a postage stamp," said one of his Islay rivals.
"We may have the oldest equipment on the island,' McEwan tells me, "and we may have no computers in the distillery, but we aim to be the first to do whisky-tasting on the world wide web. We were the first to have webcams in the distillery so you can watch what's happening via the website."
But online tasting sessions? "It's partly a practical solution to a problem," says Reynier. "We constantly get requests from whisky groups all over the world to come and give them a tasting and a talk. We do as many as we can, but there are far more than we can ever manage."
Broadband being somewhat faster than ferries and flights, the internet was the answer. McEwan will conduct live monthly sessions, announced on their website and via their email list, which will also explain what to stock up on in advance and how to get hold of it. "It will be live for anyone with the right equipment, otherwise they can email their questions to me," says McEwan Anyone with a good enough connection can join in and get the benefit of his nose.
He takes me round the new bottling plant that was opened in May, the first in the island's history. "All the whisky ever made on Islay has been sent away for bottling," he explains, "but when you send whisky to Glasgow for bottling you're not just sending casks, you're sending employment as well." Bruichladdich is definitely a community spirit.
As we leave the stills room, where Jim has been enthusiastically encouraging me to taste the water of life at different stages of production, his mobile rings and McEwan laughs. "It was our accountant, wanting to know what I was doing giving away our whisky. He saw us on the webcam."
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