Isle of Arran Distillers have officially announced their highly anticipated Inaugural Limited Edition Single Malt release from Lagg Distillery - a new heavily peated whisky distillery, located on the southern tip of the picturesque Isle of Arran.
Lagg Single Malt will officially be released from August 2022 in three separate limited-edition batches.
The whisky is described as robust, complex, and earthy with “west coast” style and brings a contemporary twist to traditional methods of producing peated whisky on Arran.
Lagg Distillery is the sister of independently owned Lochranza Distillery which was established at the north end of the island in 1995.
The building of the new distillery and its visitor centre was completed in 2019, and has received critical acclaim.
The architects designed a spectacular building that echoes the contours of Arran as you’d see it from Ailsa Craig.
The building also celebrates the unique geography of the surrounding environment by using dramatic roofs which are covered by a sedum blanket of seasonal plants.
The custom-made copper pot stills were installed in August 2018 and now sit proudly alongside the mash tun and four traditional wooden washbacks.
The first middle cut of spirit was recorded at 14.35pm on Tuesday 19 March 2019, a new chapter in the history of whisky making for the southern shores of Arran.
A heavily peated whisky is being created at Lagg, and for the Inaugural Releases, the team have used Concerto malted barley, water from their own borehole and sourced peat from the highlands of Scotland.
The team at Lagg are also supporting local projects that are focused on preserving peatlands for the good of the planet.
Because of this, they plan to conduct thorough investigations into the effects that different types of peat sourced from different areas have on their spirit, and the distinctive phenols that they produce.
They will also experiment with various cask types and observe how they interact with the Lagg spirit over time.
The new distillery manager is Graham Omand,, who worked as a stillman at Arran’s Lochranza Distillery for several years.
Graham will oversee the production of Lagg Single Malt and is very much looking forward to adding his own interpretation and style to the spirit to ensure it is of the highest possible quality.
He said: “It’s every stillman’s dream to be given such an amazing opportunity to manage a beautiful site like Lagg.
"I am going to make sure it’s a legacy that I’ll be proud to say I helped build.
"We are delighted to finally announce the very first inaugural Single Malt release from Lagg.”
