The last distillery on the road along the south coast from Port Ellen on the magical island of Islay, past Laphroaig and Lagavulin.

The distillery itself dates back to the final years of the eighteenth century. The site's water source, Loch Uigeadail, is superb and has had the honour of having a whisky named after it. Until 1976/'77 Ardbeg still had its own malting floor, but take their heavily peated malt from the Port Ellen maltings.

Jim Murray, in his Complete Guide to Whisky, described Ardbeg as the greatest distillery to be found on Earth. This was high praise indeed, given that the distillery was mothballed for most of the 1980's until Glenmorangie took control in 1997 and secured its future. The transformation from neglect to a homely and handsome distillery with a fine restaurant has been heartening to watch. Their first new release, an un-chillfiltered 10 year old, has proved to be a huge success.

A ferociously phenolic dram which retains an impressive finesse, possibly because of high stills and an unusual purifier on the spirit stills. Excellent and exciting when young, endlessly complex and stimulating when bottled old, Ardbeg is a mighty malt and increasingly popular with collectors and auctioneers.