Ardnahoe
Ardnahoe has the only worm tubs on Islay and, officially, the longest lyne arms in Scotland — genuinely unusual kit that most distilleries retired decades ago. Add a stillroom view that takes in the Sound of Islay, the Paps of Jura, and the Isle of Mull all at once, and you've got one of the most quietly spectacular visits on the island.
Ardnahoe's regular summer maintenance shutdown runs from Thursday 11 June to Saturday 15 August 2026. Production facilities are open for visiting but not operational during this time, and there may be some disruption to tour routes depending on the maintenance schedule.
Islay's newest distillery — and its highest.
Ardnahoe sits on a clifftop site on Islay's northeast coast, overlooking its own loch. It's the newest distillery on the island, having opened its doors in 2019 — young enough that locals still sometimes call it "the new one," old enough that it's already built a real following.
Upstairs, the café is all glass and loch light, giving you a view over the water while you wait for your tour or just stop in for a coffee.
- Ardnahoe's mash mill is a 100-year-old Vickers Boby — the only piece of equipment in the entire distillery that isn't brand new.
- The name is Gaelic for "height of the hollow," which makes sense the moment you see the site: perched high above its own loch.
- Join Ardnahoe's free Society (sign-up online) and you get a free tour every Tuesday or Thursday, plus a small gift bag — no catch.
- The café is properly good — reviewers consistently rate the coffee and the Paps of Jura view as being on par with the whisky itself.
Ardnahoe is medium-peated — smoky and full-bodied, but built for balance rather than an all-out assault. The worm tubs add real weight and a subtle depth you don't get from modern condensers, while the long copper contact in those lyne arms pulls genuine fruit through underneath the smoke, keeping things from tipping into heaviness. It's a properly old-fashioned combination on kit that's barely six years old — traditional methods on a distillery still finding its feet, and already tasting like it knows exactly what it's doing.
Ardnahoe is the youngest distillery on Islay, and its story is really the story of one family finally building something of their own. Stewart Laing and his sons Andrew and Scott run Hunter Laing & Co., an independent bottler that had spent decades buying and bottling other distilleries' whisky. In 2015, they found the site — a clifftop plot on the northeast coast with access to Loch Ardnahoe's deep water — and construction began soon after.
The distillery opened its doors in 2019, but the real milestone came much later: Ardnahoe's first-ever single malt, matured for five years in a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, wasn't bottled until May 2024. For a five-year wait, it's fair to say the island noticed — Ardnahoe has built a reputation as one of Islay's most exciting newer names in barely six years.