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Dear all,
I hope this letter finds you well. The Winter gales have come early this year - we have had horizontal rain from the Atlantic for the last 4 days. The seaweed is already piled high against warehouse No. 1 - still, I mustn't complain, the salty air definitely improves the maturation. I will of course be writing my Christmas letter to you in December, but I thought I should tell you about your new Online Friends shop before Christmas.
Over the year, many of you have written to me with new suggestions for your shop, others who have come to Islay asked whether some of the items from the shop we have here could also be put online. Well I do listen - so we have!
Now you can buy our Fleeces, Rugby shirts, Polo Shirts and Caps in both our alternative company colour - Black - as well as the usual Laphroaig Green. I have to say, most of the guys up here prefer the black, as anyone who has been up here recently will have noticed. We have also made our embroidered Glenmuir woolen jumpers available too - we need them with the present weather!
Caroline (those who have been to the distillery will have met Caroline, without whom nothing would ever happen on time) also wanted something special for the ladies. So there is now a lady fit tee shirt in black. For the boys I notice that there has always been many requests for ties, so we have made 2 available in different colours. The tie is pure silk and the first design is my work tie in black. The second is the official "Friends of Laphroaig" tie in Laphroaig green - very posh!
We do like to support our local community and source from Islay when we can (like our local potter who makes your water jugs). We now have a range of locally-made scented soaps specially wrapped in "grain sack" material exclusively for Laphroaig. There are lots of other items so I suggest you have a browse around the site. Do remember to view the shop in your "Friends" section as you get a discount on everything. As I write, we have stock of all items, but I cannot get any new supplies before Christmas so it will have to be "first come first served".
We are at present helping to raise money for a local project to provide an all-weather sports pitch for our Port Ellen community. I have decided to donate 50p for every Friend of Laphroaig who shops on our website this Christmas. I hope you approve.
Talking of Christmas, Caroline has selected a beautiful new gift-wrapping paper for those of you who are sending presents. I have put a photograph up to show you what it looks like. I know many of you like to send the box gift set of a bottle of 10 year old and 2 Glencairn crystal glasses. You can now also select Quarter Cask (my personal favourite), Cask Strength or 15 year old to go with the engraved glasses. Like last Christmas, I am offering one of the glasses in the set free (i.e. £5 off).
Last Post.
Please note that last post for non-European friends is the 6th December. For Europe it is the 11th Dec and 17th for the UK.
I hope you enjoy the shop and do send in any other suggestions. I will write soon and tell you all the distillery news (we have just replaced a still, but thats another story!) Hope your weather is better than ours.
Slainthe
John Campbell
Friends of Laphroaig web site
To access the private Friends of Laphroaig web site, use the link below:
http://www.laphroaig.com/friendsThomas
