Ardbeg Distillery

A world-renowned Islay single malt known for its incredible peated whiskies, Ardbeg has seen its popularity surge in recent years. The oldest record of a distillery at Ardbeg goes back to 1794. But the current distillery, the first officially granted a licence, was founded in 1815 by John MacDougall at Port Ellen. The MacDougall Clan would go on to operate the distillery for almost 40 years before the licence passed to Colin Hay in 1853.

Ardbeg was then jointly bought by Hiram Walker and Distillers Company Ltd in 1973, before Hiram Walker bought out their partner’s share four years later.

The latter part of the 20 th century was not kind to Ardbeg, with the distillery either entirely or mostly shut for years at a time. In 1981 it was mothballed by new owners Allied Distillers since there simply wasn’t a strong market for peated whisky at that time. It remained shut until 1989 when production was restored, only to close again in 1996. Even in that intervening time the distillery was only making whisky for two months of the year.

The Glenmorangie Co. bought Ardbeg in 1997 and began aggressively releasing new expressions. The first bottlings released then were a 17 year old Single Malt, Ardbeg Provenance, and a 1978 Vintage. Though it has many varied expressions, Ardbeg has never focused on producing massive volumes of alcohol. The distillery operates six washbacks of Oregon Pine and just two stills which produces 1.4 million litres of spirits a year.

The core range today consists of the highly peated 10 year old, matured in first and re-fill bourbon casks, as well as numerous expressions without an age statement. Ardbeg An Oa features whiskies from casks of sweet Pedro Ximenez Sherry, spicy virgin charred oak, and ex-bourbon all mixed together in a Gathering Vat. This creates a smoky single malt with notes of peat, dark chocolate, butterscotch, pepper, and cloves. Also part of the core range is Ardbeg Uigeadail, aged in a mix of bourbon and sherry casks and carrying a spicy aftertaste.

Outside of the core range multiple limited editions and single casks have also been released such as the Supernova, Ardbeg’s peatiest expression yet. Other examples include Grooves, finished in red wine casks, and the Twenty Something. This 22 year old is a much lighter fare than usually produced by Ardbeg. It contains tropical fruit notes and menthol aromas that mix in with the typical peatiness. The recent resurgence in popularity for peaty whiskies, and Islay malts in particular, has also led to renewed interest in old bottlings of Ardbeg from before Glenmorangie’s ownership.