Destylarnia Ardnahoe

With the Ardnahoe Distillery, Islay’s image of the peat and smoke distillery industry has changed a lot. First of all, the number of whisky distilleries operating in this area has increased significantly. There are already 9 distilleries operating on the island of Islay.

The distillery has some classic Forsyths stills, everything is old, and the stills have worm-tube external dephlegmators that are water-cooled and immersed in wooden vats. The distillery is also equipped with wooden fermentation vats made of Oregon pine and an old Vickers Boby Mill grain mill.

The water used to make the whisky comes from the nearby Ardnahoe Lake. Most of the maturation is bourbon casks, approx. 20% are hogshead sherry oloroso casks.

At the moment, the sale of the first 400 barrels to collectors has already been announced. Stewart Laing, the managing director, who started his whisky career in Bruichladdich over 50 years ago. Jim McEwan, who previously held the same position in Bruichladdich, became the master distiller.