Environmental Policy

Islay Whisky Academy has a very strong environmental ethic. I want to run a company that cares about people and the environment. I use local suppliers, buy local produce and try to have a fair and inclusive attitude. My costs are dearer because I don’t buy in bulk from the mainland, or get cheap items. I buy local, and quality. We recycle plastic, paper, glass, tins and cans. I have a compost heap in my garden.

Islay Whisky Academy gets our electricity from Scottish Hydro Electric, which is a renewable source of power.
I hope people will take responsibility for their own carbon offsetting. I am a small company and take measures which are suitable and sensible for me. As part of an eco-friendly concept, I expect others to take responsibility and think about what they can do to help the planet.

A single stone dropped in a pail of water changes it – everyone can make a difference.

By living close to the earth respect is inherent, I feel I belong to this land, and as such I want to take care of it. Humans are not separate from the land or the birds or animals. We are all part of the whole.

‘You didn’t come into this world, you came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger, here’, .

Alan Watts

Islay Whisky Academy embodies the authentic culture of Uisge Beatha. The word whisky originates from the Gaelic words uisge beatha – meaning Water of Life. Speakers of English could not properly pronounce the Gaelic words – eventually, the sound word “Uisge” in uisge beatha, morphed into the sound word “whisky”.

Whisky – as we know it, began when most of Scotland spoke Gaelic. Islay Whisky Academy is completely rooted in Gaelic and Scottish/Celtic consciousness. We know whisky is created from elements of the earth and we wish to share an ecological consciousness of whisky.

Islay Whisky Academy is professional, technical, theoretical, thorough, warm, kind, and loyal to the heritage and history of this land; and land the world over. This is the underlying ethos of Islay Whisky Academy.