The McDougall brothers built a distillery at Ardbeg Farm in 1798 with the help a few local farmers. They chose a site on the south-eastern shore of Islay, a few kilometres from the village Port Ellen. Ardbeg did not run a commercial business until 1815, the year Ardbeg officially was founded.
I the middle 1880s, the distillery was run successfully by two McDougall sisters. At that time, the distillery actually had 60 employees, as opposed to today’s 10. In the end of the seventeenth century Ardbegs annual production exceeded 1 million litres of whisky.

The distillery was owned by the McDougall family until 1959, when Ardbeg Distillery Ltd was formed. In 1973, the distillery passed on to the newly formed Ardbeg Distillery Trust for £300 000. The distillery was later included in Allied Distillers together with many other distilleries. In 1981 the distillery was closed down since they believed they had enough whisky stored to be able to meet future demand. Additionally, Allied Distilleries also owned Laphroaig, which produces a similar whisky. Eighteen jobs disappeared due to the closedown. Allied Distillers decided to re-open the distillery in 1989, but it was only run at half capacity.

In 1996, Allied Distilleries decided to sell Ardbeg. There was no lack of interested parties, and the purchase finally went to Glenmorangie PLC for £7 million. Of the sum obtained from the sale, the Ardbeg brand name counted for £300 000. Glenmorangie quickly spent quite a bit of money (£1.4 million) in order to get the distillery up-and-running. The new owners realized the importance of continuing the Ardbeg craftsmanship which is so important to the whisky’s flavour. In 2000 the distillery launched the Ardbeg Committee, which has a free membership. Through the association, its members receive news and special offers. The Ardbeg Committee has members in more than 90 countries.

The distillery recently released a new bottling, Very Young Ardbeg, the first since Glenmorangie PLC took over the business. The Ardbeg Committee has added it to their list of ‘committee approved bottling’ with the statement ‘…a vigorous whisky on its way to full maturity’. In 2005 LVMH bought Glenmorangie PLC.

Contact information
Ardbeg Distillery
Port Ellen, Isle of Islay,
Argyll PA42 7EA
Scotland

Phone: +44 (0) 1496 302 244

Ardbeg official website >>

Visiting
Ardbeg receive their visitors in a modern visitors’ centre. They have regular guided tours priced at £2.50, which you get back when you make a purchase over £17. They have a large, popular café with some local dishes seasoned with whisky. The shop adjacent to the café has a large selection of whisky, clothes, glasses etc.

Whisky
The Whisky exchange have a good range of Ardbeg whiskies.
Click here for Ardbeg whisky >>

Map

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service.
Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.