Day one :: Focuses on (a) the malting of barley, the different 'grist recipes' that are created at Ladybank, a process that is now lost from all but one other distillery (Springbank in remote Kintyre) in Scotland, (b) the mashing of two different types of malted barley (this could be smokey, heavily peated barley and a barley destined to create a lighter more fragrant single malt) and (c) the fermentation processes with talks on the importance of barley growing conditions, barley types, barley milling, fermentation control and yeast types. Participants will be trained on all these aspects of creating a suitable wash (the fermented barley beer that ends up with around 7% alcohol) ready for the two-part distillation process. There will be breaks to discuss the process in the relaxed atmosphere of the Ladybank Clubroom Facilities, lunch will be provided, and the day will end with information on the numerous attractions in the area and dinner options, with a Scottish pub meal being a popular choice to look back on the first days achievments.
Day two :: Focuse on the distilling process and all participants will help distil the new-make whisky. You will learn about key activities in the stillhouse like how to charge a wash still, get the 'steam on' (commencement of boiling up), and break the wash still (or 'bringing the still in') into the spirit safe. You will also learn about checking procedures like adding water to the foreshots to check for purity before diverting the flow of distillate as the spirit cut ('the heart of the spirit distillation')
Day two :: Evening Tasting & Dinner will focus on what happens to whisky after the short 3 day process of distillation leads onto a period of between 3 and 30 years in the maturation warehouse. New-make and different ages of cask samples will be jointly presented by distillery staff and guest experts.
Day three :: Focus on selection and preparation of casks into which the spirit you have created will be filled, cask filling, cask racking, warehousing and the effects of wood maturation. This will include a special talk on the recent development of 'wood finishes' that now exist in both the single malts and blended whisky markets. The role of blended whisky will not be forgotten, especially as Fife can claim to be the home of the Scotch blended whisky revolution, and as most of Scotland's larger distilleries still fill the majority of their casks specifically for whisky blends.
