The Isle of Islay is known for its peaty whisky, and there are nine active single malt scotch whisky distilleries on the island. We visited each and every one plus a couple more…
Bunnahabhain and Ardbeg were covered during the Fèis Ìle on our first two days on the island. Bruichladdich was our distillery tour on the third day. Bowmore, we only took photos from the outside since we’re not big fans. Why? My friend is the one who introduced me to single malt scotch whisky, and after rebelliously going through my own trials and failures, I learned to trust him and his advice and taste. He says, Bowmore isn’t what it used to be; it’s simply not a great whisky anymore and not worth the price they ask now. I blindly believe him.
Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroaig are situated along one road east of Port Ellen, and we visited them all in one day, plus the Port Ellen distillery, which was shut down in 1983 but is reopening soon. The still house was under construction, but looked close to being finished—it’s a glazed building, so we could even see the stills through the curtainwall. Port Ellen is now owned by Diageo, and since they destroyed the old pot stills and will be using new ones, who knows if the product will be similar to the original Port Ellen whisky. But I know the whisky community has high expectations.
We had seen Ardbeg during the festival already, but we still went back to the shop to get that raincoat for my friend. The staff was very friendly and helpful, and we’d already had positive memories associated with the distillery.
Lagavulin was one of the more disappointing visits. The staff was less welcoming than at most other distilleries. We browsed the shop, which apart from Lagavulin whisky also displayed other Diageo whisky. Walking out the back of the shop and through the tasting rooms, we found a nearly empty bar, and again, it seemed that we were imposing on the staff just by being there, asking some questions, making conversation… a serious lack of enthusiasm dampened our excitement and made me question a healthy workplace culture there. In order to get a better view on the iconic “Lagavulin” in big letters on the warehouse, we hiked to the other side of the bay, and it turned out to be a lovely outing.
Laphroaig was a completely different experience. The visitor’s centre seemed a bit dark and gloomy upon entering, but while I checked out the malt selection my friend sweet-talked the very young guy at the cash counter into replacing his Laphroaig sample glass for free with a heartfelt story about how he first obtained and then broke it. The two men bonded over swapping Laphroaig experiences and knowledge, and it becomes a memorable moment of connection.
We got a free Laphroaig 10 year old mini in a mini tube since we are official Friends of Laphroaig “owning” a square foot of their land—it’s a marketing gimmick: you can register the ownership of 1 sqft with each bottle of Laphroaig whisky you buy. I’m almost certain that they’ve given away their entire land several times over, but it was a nice gesture to receive a free mini as “rent” payment. The young lad also told us that at their lounge bar we could get a sample of this year’s Càirdeas, which is aged in white port and madeira casks. We each took a driver’s dram home. Walking through the exhibition in their “museum” we learned about the distillery’s history and looked at old photos. and in the end, I got sucked into buying a Laphroaig cheese and chocolate truffles, each supposedly infused with the famous whisky. We tried it all at home, and I’ll admit that, of course, the cheese and chocolates were gimmicky and while not bad also not that great. The Càirdeas sample was wonderful though; I enjoyed it tremendously.
Kilchoman deserves its own blog post, which will follow this one. Suffice it to say that it’s my personal favourite distillery on Islay.
Ardnahoe is a brand new distillery on the island. They’ve been open and distilling spirit since 2018, but they have not yet released any bottlings yet. Supposedly, March 2024 will be the magic month of its first release. Meanwhile, they sell merchandise and a lot of independent bottlings and local blends in their shop; they do distillery tours and tastings of the blends; and they have a café where I enjoyed a cappuccino and a piece of cake. Their buildings are fairly new, of course, and it was nice there. I hope the whisky will live up to the hyped up expectations.
Caol Ila came right after our Ardnahoe visit as they are close to each other. Caol Ila is the biggest distillery on the island, and their whisky is used in many blends, most prominently in Johnny Walker’s Black Label—and the shop made that clear with many Johnny Walker expressions being sold here. Diageo owns Caol Ila, and as we’d experienced before at Lagavulin, the company culture differed significantly from the smaller distilleries where the staff was truly enthusiastic. Caol Ila’s staff did not engage much with us, but my travel companion chatted up one of the ladies enough to get a couple of driver’s dram samples of their Fèis Ìle expression for us: a 13 year old Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry butt matured whisky that was truly magical. The staff experience was mediocre, but the product was very good, so I can’t complain too much.
This comes to 10 whisky distilleries, including Port Ellen still in construction and Ardnahoe, who have not yet released their inaugural bottling. Just north of Port Ellen, we drove by the Islay Rum distillery, and of course, we were curious and stopped there. The distillery was operated by a guy who welcomed us and his boss, who joined us later. There was no official visitor’s centre or shop, but he waved us inside and showed us the entire process from the molasses going into the fermentation tanks to the three stills, and at the end we got to try their white Islay Rum and a spiced rum which included smoked orange peels in the spice mix. They were also maturing some rum in casks at the moment, but hadn’t released any of those yet. Islay rum is fairly new, but they have a good distribution system as two of the owners also own the Vintage Malt Whisky Company who release Finlaggan whisky and Cooper’s Choice, and Islay Rum uses the same established distribution channels. This was a very refreshing detour from our whisky pilgrimage.
For some, it may be interesting to see where these distilleries are located on the island, so I created this map. You can zoom and click on the pins to see which distillery they stand for (red for whisky, blue for rum, and yellow is our cottage):
Ya I know your back by now but I am still working on living vicariously thru you!
Lovely place. I would have enjoyed the visit too but probably not the whisky. Don’t like the peeted stuff
Sorry to hear laguvulin was dissapointing!! I think that is the whisky that I tried at your place that I loved!! At least there sour puss(ness) (sic) does effect the spirit!
Mmmmmh “smoked orange peel and spice mix! Sounds tasty and I am not a rum person.
C