Tobermory Distillery, Mull: Two Whiskies from One Distillery

Overview

Tobermory is the only distillery on the Isle of Mull, set right on the waterfront of the impossibly pretty, brightly-painted town of the same name. Unusually, it makes two quite different whiskies: the unpeated, fruity Tobermory and the peaty, smoky Ledaig (LAY-chig), giving one small distillery a foot in both camps.

The history

Tobermory was founded in 1798 as “Ledaig” by the merchant John Sinclair, beside the planned fishing village that the British Fisheries Society was then laying out. Like many island distilleries it had a stop-start history through the 19th and 20th centuries, closing for long stretches, but it has worked steadily in recent decades and remains the heart of Mull’s whisky.

The water & the land

Tobermory’s water comes from a private loch/reservoir fed by the Mishnish Lochs in the hills behind the town, running over basalt — soft water for the fruity Tobermory, while peated malt makes the smoky Ledaig.

The distillery was a merchant’s commercial venture rather than a clan seat, but Mull is above all the island of Clan Maclean of Duart, whose great castle still stands guard over the Sound of Mull to the south-east — one of the most dramatic clan strongholds in the west.

Visiting

Tobermory runs tours and warehouse tastings, but places can be limited — book ahead, and hours are seasonal; check the website. The distillery sits at one end of Tobermory’s famous curve of coloured houses, so a visit combines easily with the town and the boat trips out to see whales and eagles.

Nearby & more whisky

• The mainland gateway to Mull: Oban
• The island’s clan: Clan Maclean
• The whole picture: Scotch whisky — regions, distilleries & the oldest of all

Sources

• Tobermory distillery — Wikipedia.
• Tobermory / Distell.