This is not a lengthy account of Jura Venison, but merely a made up title for an article I found on the “The Age” website. The Age is an online as well as a magazine publishing company from down under in Australia. The author, Andrew Marshall, visited the Hebrides and wrote about Islay and Jura. I was specially interested in what he wrote about Jura, therefore a quote from the article called Island flair with a whisky flavour:
From Islay, it’s a hop, skip and a jump to Jura, a mountainous island wilderness of 5000 deer, 200 people, one whisky distillery and a pub. It’s a Friday night at the Jura Hotel, the hub of social life in these parts. There’s a mixed clientele in the cosy interior: fly fishermen, whisky enthusiasts, distillery workers, gamekeepers, hikers and gourmet travellers. After ordering a couple of Jura Superstitions, the distillery’s latest single-malt offering, we fall into a conversation about venison with retired gamekeeper George McDougall. “The deer aren’t daft. They have an instinct. They know when it’s the stalking season and disappear into the mountains,” he says. In the winter the deer are quite bold and come down to the shoreline to eat seaweed and lichen which gives the meat a distinctive flavour. “My stepfather always used to say he could tell the difference between Jura venison and mainland venison. Have you tried the venison pie yet? You’ll have to stay a few more days and work your way through the menu…”
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