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Kilwinning
At Kilwinning, southwest of Glasgow, Aberlour
Single Malt is transferred from cask to bottle. Chief blender
David Boyd keeps track of the maturing spirit in the warehouse
by regularly calling up samples from a cask in each batch. Using
his eyes and nose, and his years of experience, he monitors the
whisky's development, allowing for seasonal and other variations.
When he is certain that it is ready he selects a combination of
casks, the contents of which will be expertly mixed or "married"
together at Kilwinning prior to bottling. This process ensures
that the award-winning standard of Aberlour is consistently maintained
from bottle to bottle, and from year to year.
Knights Templar
The medieval Knights Templar make a surprise
appearance in the story of Aberlour. Established in 1119 to protect
pilgrims in the Holy Land, they combined the ideals of chivalry
and monasticism. Much feared by the Saracens for their ferocity
in battle during the Crusades, these fighting monks acquired untold
treasure along the way, so much so that they became powerful international
financiers who lent money to kings and wielded great influence.
An intensely secret society, the Templars were reputed to have
based some of their arcane ceremonies on the mystical elements
of Druidism. With their white robes marked with red crosses, and
surrounded by rumours of unsavoury rituals, they carried an exotic
and sinister air.
No one knows precisely why the Templars should have
built a retreat at such an isolated spot as Kinermony, a short
step from Aberlour, but the locals feared and hated them. In 1312
Pope Clement V at last dissolved the Order of the Knights Templar,
many of whom were then tortured or burnt alive. One black night,
round about this time, the people of Aberlour enacted their own
bloody revenge. The lonely outpost of the "Red Friars"
was attacked and all those inside savagely slaughtered.
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