his idea as he discovered how each whiskey

his idea as he discovered how each whiskey and bourbon in the country had found its distinctive flavor. In the Spring of 2000, Wasmund’s passion took him to Scotland, where he was introduced to the whiskey distilling tradition of the Scots. What’s more, Wasmund was offered a whiskey lovers dream: a six week internship to help produce Scotch at the Bowmore Distillery on the island of Islay.

After Wasmund returned home to mull over what he had learned, he realized that he was at the crux of his dream.

“I realized that it was time to either get serious about doing it or abandon the idea altogether,” Wasmund said. That was the moment when he decided to take the internship in Scotland in the Fall of 2000.

The Island of Islay is considered hallowed ground by whiskey lovers and is where some of the finest scotch in the world is made. The fertile soil, extensive peat bogs, and a soft peaty water of Islay gives a good Scotch its distinctive flavor. “Islay has 1,500 people and eight distilleries,” Wasmund said with a smile. Bowmore is one of six distilleries in Scotland that still malts its own barley. The malting process requires a distiller to soak the grain in water and spread it out on a malting bed. Once the barley kernel forms small roots on the bottom, it is dried in a kiln.

Wasmund was particularly interested in this process, as he watched the Scots use peat fires to dry the barley, the particular smoke giving it a distinctive flavor.

“They gave me a cottage that had one door that opened into the village and one door that opened into the distillery,” Wasmund recalled. As an intern, Wasmund was thrown into the process, picking up all he could from the workers around him. “They were very nice people,” said Wasmund, “There’s a lot of love that goes into making

Island intern

See WHISKEY, Page A2