Orkney, Skye, Mull, Jura or Arran are well-known destinations for lovers of these island malts. And new destinations are being added. Let's take a voyage of discovery to the whiskies of the Scottish islands... Scotland is surrounded by small islands on which small and somewhat larger distilleries produce their characteristic single malts.
The better-known names certainly include Talisker from the Isle of Skye, Highland Park or Scapa from the Orkney Islands and Tobermory/Ledaig from the Isle of Mull. The whiskies from Jura are also experiencing more attention again thanks to a relaunch. And the whisky island of Islay?
The whiskies of Islay are definitely not lacking in attention, as they have always been in the spotlight of island whisky lovers. Behind them, not only on Islay, new destinations are developing in the Inner and Outer Hebrides with distilleries that could delight us with whiskies in the future.
The Scottish islands used to form a separate category and whisky region according to the SWA (Scotch Whisky Association). Today, according to the official reading of the SWA, the island whiskies belong to the Highlands. Only the island of Islay has been allowed to retain its status as a separate region.
Not all whiskies from the islands are characterised by an intense peat aroma, even though this is often claimed. Most whiskies from the islands today are characterised by the restrained use of peat and often maritime notes in the aroma and taste of the whiskies.
The North
Let's take a mental journey to these destinations and start with the northern islands. These include Orkney and Skye, which are exposed to the stormy weather and powerful waves of the Atlantic high in the north. Shetland is not (yet) one of them, because although gin is already produced there today, whisky production has not yet taken place.
The Orkney archipelago lies to the north of the Scottish mainland. Around 70 islands are distributed around the main island of Mainland (Nordic: Meginland). The two most northerly distilleries in Scotland are located on Mainland: Highland Park and Scapa.
Highland Park is considered the most northern distillery in Scotland and has found its own style, which is also very strongly linked to the Nordic sagas and worlds of the gods in its presentation. It is not for nothing that Orkney has a flag that is very similar to that of Norway.
The islands got their name from the Vikings. The name Orkney is derived from the Old Norse Orkneyjar and can be translated as "island of the seals". Many other place names are also reminiscent of the Viking era. Through a marriage, the islands reverted to Scotland in the 15th century.
Orkney lies between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. Due to its proximity to the Gulf Stream, the climate is cool, yet temperate. Perfect conditions for long and slow whisky maturation.
As one of the few distilleries, the Highland Park distillery still works very traditionally. Highland Park has its own malting floors, the so-called floor maltings, for the production of some of its own malt. There, the soaked grain is brought to germination. This procedure takes several days and is extremely labour-intensive, as the barley has to be turned by hand about every eight hours.
The distillery then dries the "green malt" in its two own malt kilns (kilns). Peat and some heather give the smoke a certain spiciness and sweetness. For distillation, Highland Park uses water from the nearby Cattie Maggie spring. The distillate is produced in two wash and two spirit stills and then stored for several years in former sherry and ex-bourbon casks.
Scapa, the second and often forgotten distillery on Mainland Orkney, is less well known, despite a newly opened visitor centre. Their unpeated whiskies often find their way into Chivas Regal and Pernod Ricard blends, but their single malts are also quite impressive. Matured mainly in ex-bourbon casks, they show the character of the island without peaty notes.
The North West
The Isle of Skye, situated to the northwest, is the largest island in the Inner Hebrides. It is best known for its beautiful and varied landscape and its very mild climate in summer. During the rest of the year it is wet, cool and above all windy; not for nothing does the island bear the nickname "Isle of Fog".
There are now two distilleries on Skye: the established Talisker distillery and the Torabhaig distillery, which only released a three-year-old single malt whisky in February 2021. Talisker was built in 1831 by the brothers Hugh and Kenneth MacAskill and is located directly on the south coast of Loch Harport. It has become known for its Classic Malts and its specially shaped stills and coolers.
Talisker aficionados find the often quoted pepper note in the aftertaste of the whisky exciting, which is said to result from the special shape of the two wash stills and three spirit stills (and the spiral-shaped coolers, which are also known as Worm Tub). Distillation takes place in a total of five stills.
Whisky has not been matured here for a long time (even though there are still warehouses behind the distillery). The fresh distillate is transported by tanker to Mainland Scotland, where it is then matured in the warehouses of its parent company Diageo.
The same applies to the new destination, Torabhaig. The distillation and the entire whisky production process takes place in the small, almost "romantic" distillery on Skye; the maturation, however, takes place on the mainland of Scotland at the parent company. In preparation (and announcement) here is already the distillery's second bottling for this year. The first bottling was very promising, but only time will tell what potential will still be found in the bottlings.
The Isle of Raasay is a new whisky destination in the Hebridean Islands. A first legal distillery on the island in north-west Scotland, located between the Isle of Skye and Mainland Scotland, has set itself the task of perpetuating the culture of Raasay in its whisky. Using the first Raasay barley in a generation to produce the first single malt on the island in Scotch whisky history and water from a Celtic well deep below the distillery.
Whisky is not new to Raasay, as whisky has already been produced here, rooted in centuries of illegal distillation. But the whisky, first released in 2020, is a novelty because it is produced legally, in small batches! Peated and unpeated, the Isle of Raasay whisky is in its first bottling: a rye whisky, matured in Chinkapin oak and first filled into Bordeaux red wine casks. These are still very small batches, mostly intended for whisky collectors and less for the big whisky market, but time will show how these small distilleries in particular can and will continue to develop.
Mull and Jura Islands
The Isle of Mull is the third largest island in Scotland and also part of the Inner Hebrides. The harbour town of Tobermory in the north-east of the island is the main town on Mull. It is known for its colourful house fronts at the harbour as well as for the distillery of the same name.
Tobermory Distillery (founded in 1798) produces two different styles of whisky: whiskies of the Tobermory series are unpeated, whiskies of the Ledaig series are peated and smoky. The whiskies are usually matured in former (Scotch) whisky, ex-bourbon and sherry casks.
Always somewhat undervalued, because overshadowed by its big neighbour, is the island of Jura with its whisky of the same name. The name of the island of Jura comes from Old Norse, the predecessor of today's Norwegian, and means island of the deer. Even today, more red deer live on the island than people. The island lies on the western coast of Scotland and is separated from it by a huge ocean whirlpool, the Corryveckan Whirlpool. The official connection is a ferry ride from the neighbouring island of Islay, usually only about five minutes.
The first (and only) official distillery on Jura was founded in 1810, but the current buildings, designed by the well-known architect W. Delme Evans, date from the 1960s. The distillery obtains the malt for its whiskies from Port Ellen on the neighbouring island of Islay, among other places. Four very large and powerful stills form the basis for the mainly unpeated whiskies. Today, in addition to the classic bottlings, the range also includes whiskies from several cask types (Seven Woods).
Islay - the whisky mecca Neighbouring Jura is the southernmost of the Inner Hebridean Islands, the island of Islay, often named for its sometimes extremely peated malts for the whiskies. Peat smoke is a distinctive feature of many of the island's single malts, but this is not always the case.
Its success as "the whisky island" comes from the many distilleries currently in production and the island's extensive peat deposits, which are responsible for the smoky character of most malts. The peat in extensive peat bogs is mostly derived from seaweed and much of the spring water also flows through this landscape.
If, as many distilleries do, peat is used to kiln-dry the malted barley, the desired smoky character is created in the barley malt and thus brings the later smokiness into the whiskies.
"Peat smoke is a prominent feature of many single malts from Islay."
Some of the distilleries have been active for over 150 years, Bowmore, with its founding date in 1779, is listed as the oldest distillery on the island. "Classic Islay whiskies" are considered to be particularly strong, smoky and often salty. But not all distilleries and whiskies are subordinate to this stereotype. A closer look reveals a flavour gradient from the north of the island to the south.
The northern distilleries usually use only subtly peated barley malt. This means that the whiskies are somewhat smoother and have less smoke. The distilleries in the south rely on peaty water and often barley for their powerful and smoky single malts, some of which has been very heavily dried over peat fires.
The Bunnahabhain distillery, founded in 1881, is located in the north of the island directly at the mouth of the Margadale River. This was the inspiration for the Gaelic name Bunnahabhain. Until the 1990s, Bunnahabhain's distillates tended to be very mild in peat, but today you also get stronger peaty distillates from the distillery.
New to the list of Islay distilleries is Ardnahoe. At the end of 2016, ground was broken on the distillery site on the north coast of Islay, between the Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain distilleries. With Jim McEwan, former master distiller of Bowmore and legendary master distiller of Bruichladdich, an experienced and prominent personality of the whisky business is on board as production manager. The first distillation runs took place in October 2018 and the first cask was filled on 9 November 2018.
The Caol Ila distillery is located only a few kilometres away as the crow flies in Port Askaig on the east coast of Islay. Founded in 1846 and with an important reconstruction in the 70s of the last century, it still supplies a large part of the basic whiskies of the Johnnie Walker blend. In the meantime, however, it has also gained many aficionados for its own single malts. With a total of six stills, three wash and three spirit stills, it produces 3 million litres of whisky a year, which are rarely matured on the island. Most of the whisky is stored on the mainland.
From one of the older to one of the youngest distilleries on Islay, the Kilchoman farm distillery. It was only founded in 2005 and tries to implement the "from field to bottle principle". For the whiskies, the master distillers mainly use their own malted barley and their own peaty water. Maturation in ex-bourbon and sherry casks provides the basis for the maturation of the distillates during storage.
Founded in 1881 and reopened in 2001, Bruichladdich Distillery has become a star among Islay's island whiskies. Since its reopening, it has focused on traditional production and very close local ties. Its whiskies are unpeated (but dried over coal smoke!) and with its offshoots, the peated versions of Port Charlotte and Octomore, it is now universally popular.
The distillery in Bowmore, the island capital of the same name, is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland. It received its official (!) licence in 1779, as distilling was probably already carried out illegally here before that. The character of the whiskies results from the combination of the peaty water from the Laggan River and the peated malt produced in the distillery.
Further south, you will find the three malts of the Kildalton series, whose names will make every lover of smoky malts's heart beat faster: Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroaig. The most easterly of the three distilleries, Ardbeg is located on the south coast east of Port Ellen and was founded as early as 1815. Ardbeg is known for its fresh, yet powerfully peaty whiskies as well as surprising citrus tones in the distillate. The water comes from two lochs in the area: Loch Arinambeist and Loch Uigeadail.
Scotland's islands have quite a few whisky distilleries to offer, and thus destinations for a visit.
Not far from Ardbeg is the Lagavulin distillery, officially founded in 1816. Distilling activities probably existed at this location as early as 1742, when it was reported that there were about 10 illegal distilleries there. The Lagavulin distillery and its whisky first became known through the Classic Malts, representing not only the oldest but also the strongest whisky in this range with the 16-year-old whisky. Lagavulin prides itself on the use of local ingredients and is still an important component of the Classic Malts of Scotland today.
Continuing towards Port Ellen, you come to the Laphroaig distillery. The slogan "love it, or hate it" has made these distillates famous. Officially founded in 1815, the distillery still produces at least some of its whisky with its own malt and has thus activated a worldwide fan base.
Further distilleries (e.g. Elixir) are planned on Islay and will add to the number of existing distilleries and the island's reputation as a whisky mecca.
The South
The southernmost distilleries of the Highlands region (and thus also located on the "islands") are the distilleries on the Isle of Arran: Arran Distillery (formerly Lochranza) and Lagg Distillery. Both belong together, as one has been producing an unpeated single malt with many different finishes since 1995 and the other a peated version since 2019. The Arran distillery (opened in 1995) is located on the northern tip of the island, Lagg (founded in 2017) on the southern tip of the island of Arran.
While Arran distillery is already well known, Lagg is only now beginning to attract attention. This may be due to the fact that no three-year-old whisky is yet on the market (as is the case with Ardnahoe), but New Make (the fresh distillate) is already available.
Anyway, the story is hundreds of years old: to increase their income, small Arran communities made their own distillates in illegal and home-made stills. The resulting whisky, which became known as "Arran Waters", was smuggled out of the village of Lagg and sold on the Scottish mainland. Definitely a place with tradition for this new distillery!
The West
New distilleries have been springing up all over Scotland for many years. It's a gold rush atmosphere! It is therefore not surprising that whisky is also produced in the Western Isles.
The Abhainn Dearg Distillery on the Isle of Lewis and Harris is the most westerly distillery in Scotland and one of only two in the Outer Hebrides. The island is divided by an imaginary border into southern Harris and northern Lewis. It is part of the Outer Hebrides and is the third largest landmass in the United Kingdom after Great Britain and Ireland.
Abhainn Dearg, founded back in 2008, stands for a young generation of whisky distillers. Time is relative here, which can be seen in the fact that this whisky was not sold immediately as a three-year-old; the first 100 bottles were bottled in 2018 only after 10 years of maturation.
The principle of "from field to bottle" is followed here. Everything comes from the Isle of Lewis and Harris, including the barley. For this, the owners of Abhainn Dearg have bought fields in the surrounding area and also purchase barley from Melbost Farm. The source of the water is the little river that gives it its name, "Abhainn Dearg" (Gaelic for "red river"); the bottles are filled and labelled by hand.
There are two mash tuns with a capacity of half a tonne and two wash backs that can hold a maximum of 7 500 litres. Following fermentation, distillation takes place in the Wash Still (approx. 2 200 litres) and then in the Spirit Still (approx. 2 000 litres). The final product of the distillation is matured in used bourbon or sherry barrels on site.
In the Outer Hebrides, the Isle of Harris Distiller has been operating in Tarbert on Harris since October 2015, but currently has no whisky to show as a product. The slightly peated The Hearach single malt whisky is being produced. The Harris Distillery would then be the second whisky distillery on the island of Lewis and Harris.
Scotland's islands have a lot to offer in terms of whisky distilleries, and thus destinations for a visit. It's a trip well worth taking, and with new distilleries in the future, it's sure to offer more places to visit. Here's to a good, interesting trip!
