Islay whisky

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Islay

Islay whisky is Scotch whisky made on Islay (pronounced IPA: [ˈaɪlə] or eye-luh), the southernmost of the Inner Hebridean Islands located off the west coast of Scotland.

The distilleries along the southeastern coast of the island, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Ardbeg, have the strong peaty character which is considered to be so characteristic of the Islay malts, and is ascribed to both the water from which the whisky is made as well as the peating levels of the barley. Many describe this as a “medicinal” flavour. They also possess notes of iodine, seaweed and salt.

Caol Ila on the northern side of the island, across from Jura produces a strongly peated whisky as well.

The other distilleries on the the island tend to make whisky in a variety of styles. Bunnahabhain and Bruichladdich make much lighter whiskies which are generally lightly peated. Bruichladdich does produced several heavily peated products.

Bowmore, produces a whisky which is well balanced, using a medium strong peating level (25ppm) but also using a fair number of sherry casks in their mix.

The newest of these, Kilchoman, started production in 2006. In location it is unlike the other seven distilleries, which are all by the sea.

The island has also been the home to a number of distilleries which are now closed, the most famous being the Port Ellen Single Malt which operated from the 1825 to 1983. There is still a maltings at Port Ellen which supplies many of the Islay distilleries with malted barley to their individual specifications.

In March 2007 Bruichladdich Distillery announced the reopening of the distillery at Port Charlotte which was closed in 1929 and was also known as the Lochindaal Distillery.

Islay hosts a “Festival of Malt and Music” each year at the end of May, with events and tastings celebrating the cultural heritage of the island.

1 Distilleries
2 "Lost" Distilleries
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Distilleries

Distillery	Pronunciation	Meaning	Years active	Location	Notes
Ardbeg	-	small headland	1815–1981, 1997+	east of Port Ellen	sells some of its malt for blending under the name Wardhead
Bowmore	Bow-moore	great see reef or sea rock	1779+	Bowmore, the island's administrative capital	sells some five-year-old malt under the name McClelland’s
Bruichladdich	brook-laddie	bank on the shore	1881–1929, 1936–1995 (except WWII), 2001+	on the western shore of Loch Indaal, opposite Bowmore	-
Bunnahabhain	bū-na-ha-venn	mouth of the river	1880/1883+	north of Port Askaig	-
Caol Ila	cull-eela	The Sound of Islay (i.e., the strait between Islay and Jura)	1846–1930, 1937–1972 (except WWII), 1974+	north of Port Askaig	-
Kilchoman	kil-homan	St Comman's church	2005+	Atlantic coast	-
Lagavulin	lagga-voolin	the hollow where the mill is	1742/1816+	east of Port Ellen	-
Laphroaig	la-froyg	beautiful hollow by the broad bay	1815+	east of Port Ellen	-
Port Charlotte					-

[edit] "Lost" Distilleries

Achenvoir (pre-1816–1818+), in Argyll
Ardenistle (1837–1849) / Kildalton (1849–1852) / Islay (1852–1852), subsumed by Laphroaig 1853
Ardmore (1817–1835), taken over by Lagavulin 1837
Daill (1814–1830), ruins on road between Port Askaig & Bridgend
Freeport (1847–1847), location unknown
Hazelburn (1825–?), uncertain relation to the Hazelburn distillery of Campbeltown
Kildalton (1817–1837), merged with Lagavulin
Killarow (c.1760–1818) / Bridgend (1818–1822), ruins in village
Lochindaal/Port Charlotte/Rhinns (1829–1929), near BruichLaddich
Lossit (1821) / Ballygrant (1826–1860), ruins south of the village A846
Malt Mill (1908–1960), part of Lagavulin
Mulendry (1826–1831), location unknown
Newton (1818–1825), ruins immediately south of A846 between Port Askaig & Bridgend
Octomore (1816–1852), ruins near Port Charlotte
Port Ellen (1825–1929, 1967–1983), large port village of Islay, converted to a malting
Scarabus (1817–1818), no evidence of production
Tallant (1821–1852), Tallant farm south of Bowmore
Torrylin (?–?), may have been on the Isle of Arran