“Distillery on one shore, ruined castle on the other, and open water between them — this is the view from the roadside at Lagavulin, no walking required. The same sheltered water is what the Lords of the Isles moored their warships in, centuries before anyone thought to build a distillery beside it.”
A small, sheltered bay on Islay's south coast, closed in by rocky headlands. Lagavulin distillery's whitewashed buildings run along the shore on one side; on the other, the broken walls of Dunyveg Castle stand on their own promontory, looking back across the water. Lagavulin takes its name from the bay itself.
- Picture-postcard bay right beside the distillery
- Dunyvaig Castle ruins visible across the water
- One of Islay's most photographed views
The bay takes its name from a mill that once stood on this shore — Lag a' Mhuilinn is Gaelic for 'the hollow of the mill,' anglicised over time to Lagavulin. Long before that mill, or the distillery that now shares its name, the bay's real value was as an anchorage: sheltered water immediately below Dunyvaig Castle, the Lords of the Isles' naval stronghold, made it a natural harbour for their galley fleet for centuries. More recently, this corner of Islay made a cameo on American TV: in the sixth season of Parks and Recreation (2013), Ron Swanson — Nick Offerman's character — is sent to the distillery as a surprise gift, Lagavulin being his favourite drink. Offerman was a genuine Lagavulin drinker in real life too, and the episode marked the start of a real, ongoing partnership between him and the distillery that's still going over a decade later.