About
New Islay distillery by Sukhinder and Rajbir Singh (founders of The Whisky Exchange) through their company Elixir Distillers. Located outside Port Ellen on Islay's south coast. Ground broken late 2020, stills arrived late 2024, but construction stalled when ISG went into administration. Features traditional floor maltings (supplying 50%+ of malt), direct-fired stills, and an experimental micro-distillery within the site. Plans include 14 houses for workers, visitor centre, bar/restaurant, tasting room, and apprentice program. Expected to produce four distinct spirit styles.
Production Details
The Portintruan Tale
The southern coast of Islay stretches wild and unforgiving beyond Port Ellen, where Atlantic winds carry salt spray across ancient peat bogs and rocky headlands. Here, where the island's whisky heritage runs deepest in the soil, Sukhinder and Rajbir Singh chose to plant their flag in 2020, breaking ground on what would become Portintruan.
The Singh brothers, who built The Whisky Exchange into a temple for whisky lovers worldwide, understood that creating whisky and selling it demanded different devotions. Through Elixir Distillers, they committed not just to another distillery, but to the old ways that made Islay legendary. Their vision called for traditional floor maltings to supply more than half their malt—a costly choice when industrial efficiency beckoned, but one that honored the island's methods.
By late 2024, the copper stills had arrived, their direct-fired design promising the kind of character that only flame can coax from barley and time. Yet fate intervened when ISG, their construction partner, collapsed into administration, leaving Portintruan suspended between ambition and completion.
Still, the bones of something remarkable remain. The plans speak of fourteen houses for workers—a recognition that whisky communities need more than just stills to thrive. A visitor center, bar, and tasting room acknowledge the pilgrims who cross the Sound of Islay seeking liquid stories. Most intriguingly, an experimental micro-distillery within the site promises innovation alongside tradition, where four distinct spirit styles might emerge from the same Islay terroir.
The apprentice program planned for Portintruan carries perhaps the deepest promise—young hands learning ancient crafts, ensuring the island's whisky knowledge flows forward like the Kildalton burn after heavy rains.
Construction may have stalled, but the dream endures on that windswept coast. The stills wait in their stillhouse shells, ready for the day when peat smoke will rise again from Islay's southern shore, and Portintruan will add its voice to the island's chorus of single malts.