Ardbeg Distillery, Islay: The Peatiest of Them All

Overview

Ardbeg sits on Islay’s south-east “Kildalton” coast, the third of the famous trio of distilleries strung along that shore with Lagavulin and Laphroaig. It is, by reputation, the peatiest and smokiest of all the Islay malts — a wall of tar, brine, soot and citrus that its devoted followers treat as the benchmark for heavily-peated whisky the world over. The little whitewashed distillery with its black pagoda roof is one of the most photographed spots on the island.

The history

Whisky was being made at Ardbeg from around 1798, but the distillery was formally founded in 1815 by John MacDougall, and the MacDougall family ran it for much of the 19th century. By the late 1800s Ardbeg was a giant, shipping vast quantities of intensely peaty malt to the mainland blenders. The 20th century was crueller: changing tastes and the whisky loch of the 1980s left Ardbeg mothballed and very nearly lost — it fell silent in 1981 and limped through the following decade.

Its rescue came in 1997, when Glenmorangie plc bought the ruined distillery and rebuilt it, and Ardbeg’s fortunes were transformed by a cult following that grew into one of whisky’s most fervent fan-clubs, the Ardbeg Committee. Now owned by luxury group Moët Hennessy, Ardbeg has become both a serious money-spinner and a byword for peat taken to its glorious extreme.

The water & the land

Ardbeg draws its water from Loch Uigeadail and Loch Airigh nam Beist, up in the peat-dark hills behind the distillery — brown, soft, peaty water that runs down to Charlie’s Dam beside the stills, and which lends its name to one of Ardbeg’s best-loved bottlings, Uigeadail.

Ardbeg has no clan of its own — it was a farm-distillery founded by the MacDougall family on what was then the great Campbell estate of Islay. The island itself, though, was for centuries the very heart of Clan Donald — the Lords of the Isles, who ruled a sea-kingdom from Finlaggan a few miles north until their forfeiture in 1493. After that Islay passed to the Campbells, and by the 1720s to Daniel Campbell of Shawfield, whose family were the “improving lairds” who shaped the crofting-and-distilling island the Victorians knew.

Visiting

Ardbeg has a visitor centre, shop and the well-loved Old Kiln Café, and runs daily tours and tastings in season — these should be pre-booked, especially in summer. Opening is broadly daily from about 9:30 to 5 in the season and Monday to Friday in winter, but always check the website before travelling, as the Islay distilleries adjust their hours with the seasons. It sits within easy reach of Lagavulin and Laphroaig, so all three can be seen in a day.

Nearby & more whisky

• Its Kildalton-coast neighbour: Lagavulin
• The third of the trio: Laphroaig
• The whole picture: Scotch whisky — regions, distilleries & the oldest of all

Sources

• Ardbeg distillery — Wikipedia.
• Ardbeg / Moët Hennessy; Scotchwhisky.com Whiskypedia.