Burns Night Celebration - 22 Jan - 27 Jan 2021

Burns Night, the 25th of January, is a celebration of the life and poetry of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. It is traditionally an evening (or few) where friends get together share good food, stories, poetry and of course a good few drams.

Even with everyone pretty much locked up this year due to Covid, there's no reason not to continue the tradition and what better way to celebrate all things Scottish than joining us for celebration of all things Whisky!

To launch our film we're holding a 6 day virtual on-line celebration. We'll be screening our film over 6 days and each day we'll be joined by one or two of the film cast - some of the greats of the whisky world - who will share their experiences of their craft. We're also going to have limited edition one-off tasting kits which follow the film - what would a Burns Night be without a good few drams.

We've got the friends, the stories and the drams. Come and join us!

To order your limited edition tasting kit and bottle, or to gain access to our special guest sessions please visit: The Water of Life Website

OPENING NIGHT PROGRAM

A Brief Introduction By The Filmmakers

The Film Screening (88 minutes)

Jim McEwan, Adam Hannett and Charles Maclean Will Join Us Live at 9pm GMT

(Don't worry if you miss the live session, we'll make a recording available after)

About The Film

Wine merchant Mark Reynier enters a whisky raffle only to be polite... and wins. He hates whisky. But when he picks up his prize, he gets his first taste of a little-known whisky called Bruichladdich. That very moment he begins a journey to buy the distillery and share it with the world.

Jim McEwan is only 9 when he first begins to skip school, mesmerized by the pipe-smoking malt-men at his neighborhood distillery. Seven years later, he leaves school beginning a lifetime devoted to whisky. For 40 years he works across the water from Bruichladdich quietly dreaming of reviving the old distillery.

Bruichladdich was nothing but a group of crumbling buildings and a warehouse of neglected old whisky when Mark bought it and brought Jim on board. Jim, freed from the constraints of a revered ancient whisky brand, sets out to reinvent himself and the distillery.

These two unlikely partners, from dramatically different backgrounds, converge at a critical time and become part of a craft movement to rediscover the past of an ancient spirit and to reinvent the future of the entire industry, helping to transform it into a $3 billion global giant.

A Note From the Filmmakers

There was a point in making this film that we were treated to a 75-year-old whisky. It was the oldest whisky ever bottled. The whisky itself first went into a barrel before the 2nd world war. It aged as the Vietnam war raged and the peace movement looked to find an end to it. It aged as the Soviet Union fell, as we were born and as our children were born. This whisky that we enjoyed on that raining grey afternoon in Elgin, Scotland, was a tangible witness to that history. The men who created it had long since passed, their children had passed and now we were being poured this whisky by the granddaughters and sons of these distillers.

In making this film we set out to tell human stories about the world of spirits; to tell stories about the people who dedicate their lives to mastering a craft. These are craftspeople using techniques and traditions that, in some cases, harken back to the Bronze Age and the very advent of distillation.

The Water of Life is the story of the craft revolution that has launched single malt scotch whisky into the stratosphere. The rebels and the alchemists who lead the way in this global enterprise from their humble cottages on the shores of remote windswept islands.