ARDBEG DISTILLERY
Port Ellen, Isle of Islay, Argyll PA82 7DU (Isle of Islay PA42 7EB)
Phone: +44 01496-302244 (+44 1496 302418)
Fax: 01496-302040 (+44 1496 302496)
Manager : Ian Henderson

ARDBEG DISTILLERY • VISITOR CENTRE & OLD KILN CAFE
September to May • Monday to Friday • 10:00 to 16:00 • Tours at 11:30 and 14:30
(10:30 or 15:30 if these are booked)
June to August • open daily 10:00 to 17:00 • Tours at 10:30, 11:30, 14:30 and 15:30
Old Kiln Cafe open all year • Monday to Friday • June to August • open daily
Tel: 01496 302244 • Fax: 01496 302040
e-mail: oldkiln@ardbeg.com • web: www.ardbeg.com

Visitor centre is nominated to recieve an AWA.dk AWArd..

During visit 2016 Ardbeg is no longer AWArded… 

Service was down, tours to commercial and staff no longer as freindly.

Michael Jackson writes : It’s the earthiness of Ardbeg, its guests of peat smoke, leafy bonfires and tar, that make it the most traditional of island whiskies.

They use local barley and peat from in production.

From the book ‘The Scottish Collection’ – classic malts by Carol P. Shaw:
This distillery was opened in 1815 and was one of several established near the sea in an area which was originally used by smugglers. It was bought by Hiram Walker in the 1950’s primarily to use its produce in belnding; blenders use Islay malts in the way that a chef might use a strong flavour like garlic.
Nearby Lochs Uigeadale and Arinambeast supply the water which, together with local peat, produces a distinctively Islay Malt. Ardbeg is operated by Allied Distillers but they do not sell its produce officially as a single malt.

From the book : Malt Whisky – A contemporary Guide – By Mr. Graham Moore :
Following the main A846 from Laphroaig and Lagavulin the road, barely wide enough for two cars to pass, suddenly makes a sharp right turn and you find yourself at the water’s edge right in the middle of Ardbeg Distillery. The road which continues another four miles to Kildalton Church seems almost an afterthought.
Ardbeg was founded by the Macdougall family in 1815, which makes it the second oldest disyillery on Islay. The area was used by a gang of smugglers whose activities were only curtailed when the Excise watchers seized a large quantity of illicit whisky, a coup which led to the break-up of the gang and the start of a ligitimate operation. The distillery was privately owned until it was taken over by Hiram Walker in 1979, but its future became uncertain when Walker’s merged with Allied Vintners and it closed in 1983. It reopned in the late 1980’s, although operation below capacity, was mothballed again in august 1996, and subsequently sold to the owners of Glenmorangie.
Peat plays an important part in Ardbeg’s flavour and in this part of Islay it is particularly good, being free of sulphur and other undesirable minerals. Until its closure the distillery was able to make all its own malt, the last distillery on Islay to be able to do so, and the kilning was done exclusively over peat fires (most distillers only kiln for part of the time over peat). With no fans in the pagodas to draw the peat smoke upwards it would diffuse slowly through the malt, infusing its reek into the grain. The mailt had to be turned regularly during the kilning to prevent it from stewing. The water too picks up its own flavour, flowing over peat and heather on its 3-mile journey to the distillery from Loch Uigeadail.
Ardbeg has never worked to an enormous capacity. It has only six washbacks and a single pair of stills. Fermentation takes longer than normal, at about 60 hours, and only one type of yeast is used. The spirit still has purifier fitted. In its early days it could make only 600 gallons per week. By the time of its closure this figure had risen to an annual output of about 300.000 gallons, still way below that of most other Islay distilleries. Perhaps understandably, Ardbeg Single Malt has never been widely available and was at one time only sold in a couple of local hotels and to company shareholders. Most of its production went to blenders, although its pungency may have made its market a limited one, which in turn could have accounted for the distillery’s temporary closure. It seemed that Ardbeg was destined to stay in the background of Allied Distillers’ operations as a poor relation of its sister Laphroaig, with whom it shared many of its characteristics. Its acquisition by Glenmorangie gives it hope of a new lease of life.