Whisky Guide > Distillery Profiles > Ardbeg Whisky Distillery

Ardbeg Whisky Distillery

Situated on the south coast of the island, Ardbeg is the most easterly of distilleries on this coast. The land here slopes gently to the sea and is dotted with farms. Then, overlooking a small bay with rock outcrops just out from the shore, stands Ardbeg Distillery. The prevailing winds, which come from the south west, force the waves to crash against the distillery buildings, leaving deposits of seaweed in their wake. Two years ago the seaweed had piled to two feet in depth outside the still room door - an image you can easily capture when nosing Ardbeg 1974! It is no wonder that the casks of whisky slowly maturing in the distillery warehouses breathe in some of the salty aromas of the sea.

It was thought that Ardbeg was established in 1815 but as this was an area favoured by smugglers and illicit distillers, distilling may have been carried out here for much longer. The attraction of this location would have been the plentiful supply and quality of the water that runs from Loch Uigidale and through Loch Iarnan. Today, the water still comes from springs that run into the loch, travelling through peat before arriving at the distillery; the peat level in the water also helping in a small way to give Ardbeg its distinctive style.

Many distilleries were started by farmers as a way of using their barley. It seems likely that this was also the case at Ardbeg as the distillery is surrounded by a large farm. The farm is still owned by the distillery and operated successfully by a tenant farmer.

The distillery was owned and run by the McDougall family from its establishment until 1959, when it closed. Ownership was then taken up by a consortium and in 1976 Hiram Walker bought out the other shareholders. The distillery has been in operation since 1959 with a break from 1981 to 1989. Allied Distillers now own Hiram Walker and it is with their authority that Gordon & MacPhail bottle Ardbeg under the Connoisseurs Choice label.

The distillery is well laid out and was designed by the noted architect of distilleries - Charles Doig. He was in practice in Elgin and his plans were used for many distilleries in the Spey valley. The layout he used was well tried and his distilleries were compact with all activities in proximity to each other.

The distillery used to have two maltings, the East and West, and it was the last distillery on the island to produce all its malt at the distillery. The maltings were unusual in that there were no fans in the pagodas on the roof, causing the peat smoke to permeate the malt for longer than at other distilleries. The peaty flavours you identify in Ardbeg 1974 probably result largely from this method of malting. Ardbeg is, in fact, the most heavily peated of the Islay malts. Although the maltings at the distillery are no longer used these days, the malt now comes from the maltings at Port Ellen, where the level of peatiness is catered for in the specification given to the maltings.

Malt is stored in bins before grinding in a Boby mill. This mill is of great age and may date back to 1900. The distillery uses an unusual and ingenious batch weighing unit for measuring the malt before grinding. The mash tun, with a capacity of four tons, was built by Newmill Iron works of Elgin in 1961 and is of traditional style with stirring gear and gunmetal plates. The mash takes eight hours.

There are six wash backs made of Oregan pine. Each holds 30,000 litres and fermentation takes 60 hours. Only distiller’s yeast is used whereas most distillers use a mixture of brewer’s and distiller’s yeast.

The stills have wide necks, which probably contribute to the oily, full body of Ardbeg 1974. The wash still has a capacity of 18,000 litres and the spirit still, 17,000 litres. The spirit still has a purifier at the end of the lye pipe. The stills were converted to steam heating in 1966 and pans were installed for heating. Whilst the bases of the stills were changed at that time the upper parts have not changed for well over 50 years. They have large rivets and an interesting overlapping vertical joint compared with the welds seen today. The spirit was cooled in worm tubs until 1960 when condensors were installed. The distillery has a capacity of one million litres of alcohol per annum.

The distillery buildings stand next to the sea shore with two small piers that were previously used for transporting supplies to the distillery. Today, five small fishing boats catch lobster, crabs and scallops that find a ready market in Spain and Portugal. Sea Otters can often be seen playing on the rocks in front of the distillery and at times they even walk amongst the distillery buildings! The extensive warehousing on the site extends to over ten acres. Some warehouses are used for traditional storage of casks and others are tall racked warehouses.

For many years the distillery was operated along with the distillery farm. The workforce would have been quite large as many would have been required to cut peat for use in the maltings. Like the distillery the manager’s office is of the traditional style, with wood panelling and an enviable view over the sea shore. Many old photographs adorn the walls, one of which shows a squad of men cutting peat near an inland loch.

The Manager of both Ardbeg and the company’s sister distillery, Laphroaig, is Iain Henderson. He has extensive experience in the industry, both on the mainland and on Islay. The Brewer at Ardbeg, Duncan Logan has worked there for 33 years and has close connections with the distillery covering many more years. His wife has lived in one of the distillery houses for all her life.

Ardbeg is a traditional distillery of great charm and a long history. It produces a distinctive pungent and the most heavily peated of any whisky on the island. Many fans of Islay whiskies and Ardbeg in particular will go to great lengths to find a bottle of Ardbeg. Iain Henderson recalls receiving a phone call from New Zealand, when the caller urgently required further supplies of his favourite dram as his last remaining bottle was almost finished!

(Visited May 1996)