Peep O'day

Explorer Tom Caol Ila looks across the narrow water to Jura, so the name is doing useful work: it means ‘Sound of Islay’ in Gaelic. Stand by the distillery near Port Askaig and you may be forgiven for thinking the island has arranged the scenery solely to make whisky tourists miss their ferries. The real history has enough movement of its own. The distillery began in 1846, when steamships brought supplies and carried away the finished spirit. Its fresh water came from Loch nam Ban, and barley is now malted at Port Ellen. In the early 1970s the old distillery was demolished and rebuilt, but the six stills were reproduced to preserve the established style. That is an unusual way to renew a place: pull down almost everything, then ask the copper to remember what it used to do. Caol Ila now makes both smoky peated malt and unpeated spirit, so the place has more than one voice. The visitor centre reopened after renovation in 2022. Guided visits explain production and give you a view over the Sound; take a moment to look across at Jura before someone hands you a tasting glass. The building may be new by Islay standards, but this is still a working distillery, and the trip down to the waterfront is part of the experience. Book ahead, especially in busy months. The visitor building has lift access, while the production part of the tour has steep stairs; staff offer a video of that section for guests who cannot use them. The site warns that winter weather can close it at short notice, and the bus is infrequent. Check the day’s opening and your return route, then let the Sound of Islay live up to its name.

Explorer Tom Ardnahoe Distillery sits on Islay’s north-east coast with Loch Ardnahoe at its back and the Sound of Islay making a fine case for lingering at the windows. The Laing family began making spirit here in 2018, after decades in the whisky trade. It is a young neighbour on an island that takes its whisky seriously, and it has brought a rather good view to the conversation. Stewart Laing and his sons Andrew and Scott formed Hunter Laing & Company in 2013, then chose this lochside ground for their own distillery in 2015. Building began late the next year. The first distillation ran in October 2018, and the first cask was filled on 9 November. If you came expecting centuries of moss on every barrel, Ardnahoe cheerfully offers the beginning of a story instead. The working distillery uses copper pot stills with notably long lyne arms and the island’s only worm tubs, which cool the vapour after distillation. The stillhouse looks across the Sound; the visitor tour explains how barley, water, yeast and peat become the spirit maturing in casks. I would happily claim that the view improves the whisky, but even Tom cannot prove that with a telescope. Let the people making it explain the craft. The operator offers bookable tours and tastings, with advance booking advised and age limits for the production tour. Check current times and prices before crossing Islay, and leave driving to someone who is not tasting; the operator offers take-away drams for drivers. Walk into the stillhouse for the machinery, and leave with a sharper eye for what is happening in every glass. The sea view is included, and thankfully requires no measuring jug.