Laggan Bay

On Islay's southeastern shore, where Glenegedale meets the restless waters of Laggan Bay, Scotland's whisky map prepares to expand once more. Here, beside the established rhythm of The Islay Boys brewery, construction crews work against Atlantic winds to raise what will become the island's twelfth distillery.

The partnership reads like an Islay story itself—Ian Macleod Distillers, custodians of mainland treasures like Glengoyne and the resurrected Rosebank, joining hands with The Islay Boys, Mackay Smith and Donald MacKenzie, men who've already proven their devotion to this windswept island through grain and hops. Planning permission arrived in 2022, a bureaucratic milestone that set hammers swinging and dreams into motion.

The location speaks to Islay's enduring character. Glenegedale sits where the island's gentler southeastern aspect still carries the maritime influence that defines every drop of whisky born here. The bay itself provides both name and character—that constant conversation between land and sea that has shaped Islay distilling for two centuries.

Their choices reveal intention. Handmade copper pot stills will rise here, each one shaped by craftsmen who understand that distillation begins with the vessel itself. The wetlands planned for waste management acknowledge both environmental responsibility and the island's fragile ecosystem, where peat bogs and bird sanctuaries exist alongside distillery warehouses.

Perhaps most telling is their partnership with Islay Energy Trust and Scottish Power, exploring renewable energy sources. On an island where peat once fired every still and Atlantic gales still test every building, this marriage of tradition and innovation captures modern Scottish distilling's essential tension.

Construction continues as 2025 approaches, each timber frame and copper pipe bringing Laggan Bay closer to that first spirit run. When complete, it will join the constellation of distilleries that have made Islay synonymous with Scottish whisky character—that particular alchemy of salt air, island water, and generations of knowledge passed from stillman to stillman.

The bay watches, patient as it has been for millennia, ready to welcome another voice to Islay's ancient conversation between earth, water, and flame.