Laphroaig Distillery - Tour Times

All year round
Tours by appointment - Monday to Friday - 10:15 and 14:15

June to September
Monday to Friday 11:45 and 15:30. Saturday 10:00 (must be pre-booked)

Visitor Centre
Monday to Friday - 09:00 to 17:00 - Saturday 11:30 to 13:00

Current owner: Allied Distillers Ltd
Distillery Manager: John Campbell
caroline.morris@beamglobal.com
www.Laphroaig.com
+ 44 (0) 1496 302418
+ 44 (0) 1496 302496

Laphroaig History and Distillery Information

The Laphroaig distillery (the name means "the beautiful hollow by the broad bay") was established in 1815, by Alex and Donald Johnston. The 'Johnston' brothers were actually McCabes, of the Clan Donald, who changed their names following the failed Jacobite uprising, and settled on the Isle of Islay.

Their descendants ran the distillery until 1887, when it passed to the Hunter family. They in turn ran the distillery until 1954, when Ian Hunter (who had no children) died and left the distilley to one of his managers, Bessie Williamson, who earlier came to Islay to stay for three months but remained on Islay for more than fourty years.

The distillery was sold to Long John International in the 1960's, and subsequently became part of Allied Domecq. Allied Domecq was in turn acquired by Fortune Brands in 2005.

Since 1994 Laphroaig has been the only whisky to carry the Royal Warrant of HRH, Prince Charles of Wales (the 15-year-old is reportedly his favourite scotch whisky), which was awarded in person during a visit to the distillery. As of 2005, the standard 10 year old bottling was reduced in percentage from 43% to the worldwide standard of 40%.

The water dispute
In 1836 James and Andrew Gairdner set about building a rival distillery next to Laphroaig. They installed two experienced Clackmann distillers, James and Andrew Stein, to take charge. Donald Johnston, owner of Laphroaig at the time, was deeply disturbed finding out that the new, Ardenistiel distillery, proposed to use the same watersource. Water that made a vital contribution to Laphroaig's unique character. Specially when Donald was about to expand his business leaving him with a too small water supply. The dispute lasted almost 6 years and ended abruptly when Andrew Stein fell ill with fever and died soon afterwards. His brother James stopped distilling and moved to Port Ellen. In June the following year Donald himself died in a tragic accident at the Laphroaig distillery.

Taste
Laphroaig is considered one of the most strongly flavored of all scotch whiskies, and is generally aged to 10 years, although the 15 year old variety is not uncommon (the 30 and 40 year olds, however, are). Some people find that a drop of water enhances the peaty aroma of this whisky.

In an attempt to re-create the taste of historic whiskies, Laphroaig carried out experiments. Recently the Laphroaig Quarter Cask has been introduced. By using smaller casks and by avoiding chill-filtering, the Quarter Cask Single Malt is supposed to taste like whisky which was distilled 100 years ago.

Friends of Laphroaig
In 1994 the Friends of Laphroaig Club was established, members of which are granted a lifetime lease of one square foot (<0.1 m²) of land on the island of Islay. The annual rent is a dram of Laphroaig which can be obtained upon visiting the distillery.

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