Your Carbost still,
Below Hawk Hill,
A Classic Malt does spawn,

Your subtle hues,
From mountain dews,
When sun rays rise at dawn,

Your amber mask,
From chosen cask,
A deep desire 'tis born,

Your given wares,
To ‘Angels Shares‘,
As you lay silently withdrawn,

Your golden glow,
From pour to flow,
Cascades to glass from bottle,

Your rising odour,
Works me over,
Senses at full throttle,

Your changing taste,
On palette placed,
Whets senses like no other,

So I say to thee,
As I raise my glass,
Slàinte mhath! to you my brother.

This little ditty was penned when a friend told me that Talisker Disteillery were looking for submissions of poetry, to a competition for the celebration of Rabbie Burns back in January 2014.

The challenge was on, I started with an internet search to learn a little of the History of Skye's oldest legitimate Whisky Distillery. So the keyboard was getting tapped, a wee bit of this, a wee bit of that, I was cramming in loads. I was telling a story, that's when I realised it was more like a novel than a poem, specifically when I had wanted a poem that would be short and punchy. Yet still tip it's hat to Talisker.

So I stripped everything back. First I mention the Still's at Carbost, Carbost being a settlement on the banks of Loch Harport and home to the current distillery. Next was the mention of "Hawk Hill", the Anglicised name for Cnoc nan Speirag, the hill that gives over her water to the Stills in Carbost.

Next was a reference to the 'cask' and the maturation process, and of the Spirit with it's gift to the Angels.
And then the pour from the bottle, releasing the aromas that set's the strongest Scotsmen weak at the knees, before the taste that explodes in time with flavours bursting as the water of life tumbles over the taste buds.

Finally, was to say "Slàinte Mhath." Good Health in Gaelic what was the Mother Tongue to many North West Highland and Hebridean natives up until relatively recent times.

Fortunately stripping things back was the correct call as I happened to win this competition and was gifted a bottle of Talisker Storm and six lovely ball end glasses, and an 'Ode to Talisker' was framed and hung in the Distillery.

"Slàinte Mhath"