Ardnahoe Distillery: The Independent Bottler That Built Its Own Distillery From Scratch

Most distilleries on Islay carry decades, sometimes centuries, of history. Ardnahoe carries almost none. It filled its first cask in November 2018 and opened its doors the following April, the first new distillery built on the island in fifteen years and only the ninth working distillery Islay has ever had. What makes it more unusual still is who built it: not a global drinks group, but Hunter Laing and Company, a family firm that had spent decades as an independent bottler before it ever owned a still of its own.

This guide covers Ardnahoe's short but eventful history, how the whisky is made, what has been released so far, and how independent bottlers and cask buyers fit into a distillery that is, in a very real sense, still finding its feet.

Ardnahoe at a glance

Region	Islay, near Port Askaig
Opened	12 April 2019
Owner	Hunter Laing and Company
Capacity	Reported figures vary between roughly 500,000 and 900,000 litres of pure alcohol a year; Hunter Laing has never confirmed one fixed number
Stills	2 (1 wash, 1 spirit), lamp glass shaped, with old style worm tub condensers
Water source	Loch Ardnahoe
Style	Mainly heavily peated, around 40ppm, with smaller runs of lighter and unpeated spirit
Visitor centre	Yes, opened with the distillery in 2019, five star VisitScotland rated

Ardnahoe from above

Our drone caught Ardnahoe's white walled distillery and visitor centre on the northeast coast of Islay, set between Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain with the Sound of Islay and the hills of Jura in the distance, and Loch Ardnahoe, the water source the distillery takes its name from, close by.

History of Ardnahoe

Ardnahoe exists because Stewart Laing wanted a distillery of his own, and had wanted one for most of his working life. He trained at Bruichladdich on Islay in the 1960s before joining his father's firm, Douglas Laing and Co, which he ran alongside his brother Fred for three decades. In 2013 the brothers split the business amicably, and Stewart set up Hunter Laing and Company with his sons Andrew and Scott, taking the Old Malt Cask and Old and Rare Platinum ranges with him. Building an actual distillery had been the plan for years before the money and the site came together.

Planning permission for a site on the northeast coast of Islay, between Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain, went in during 2016, and construction ran through 2017 and into 2018 on what became a £12 million investment. Ardnahoe filled its first cask on 9 November 2018 and opened to the public on 12 April 2019, with Lord Robertson of Port Ellen doing the honours. Nearly 24,000 visitors came through the doors in its first seven months alone, and the visitor centre went on to earn a five star VisitScotland rating.

Stewart Laing died in April 2026 at the age of 79, having lived to see his own distillery release its first single malt two years earlier. Hunter Laing and Company, and Ardnahoe with it, continues under his sons Andrew and Scott, who had built the business alongside him from the start.

How Ardnahoe makes its whisky

The stillhouse holds just one wash still and one spirit still, both the tall, lamp glass shaped design associated with a slower, more contemplative style of distilling. What sets Ardnahoe apart from every other distillery on Islay is the pair of old fashioned worm tub condensers standing outside the stillhouse: coiled copper pipes cooled in a bath of water, rather than the shell and tube condensers almost everyone else on the island now uses. Worm tubs give the spirit less contact with copper, which tends to carry through more of the heavier, meatier notes that survive distillation, a deliberate choice by a team who wanted a spirit with old style Islay character rather than a lighter, more modern one.

Most of what comes off Ardnahoe's stills is heavily peated, in the region of 40ppm, squarely in line with the classic Islay style that made the island's name. The distillery also runs smaller batches of lightly peated and unpeated spirit, giving Hunter Laing room to build a wider range as stock matures. Process water comes from Loch Ardnahoe, a short distance from the distillery, and the inaugural release was matured across a mix of ex bourbon barrels and ex Oloroso sherry casks.

Ardnahoe and independent bottlers

Ardnahoe is an unusual case because its owner was already one of the best known independent bottlers in Scotland before a single spirit ran off its stills. That background shows in how Hunter Laing handled the years between opening the distillery and having anything of its own old enough to sell. Rather than wait in silence, the company launched Scarabus in 2019, a non age statement Islay single malt sourced from an undisclosed distillery elsewhere on the island, bottled to keep a genuine Islay whisky on shelves and give visitors something to buy at the new distillery while Ardnahoe's own casks quietly matured in the warehouse next door. It is a neat illustration of exactly the skill independent bottlers bring to the trade: knowing where to find good stock and how to present it, even when you do not yet have your own.

Now that Ardnahoe has whisky old enough to bottle, very little of it has reached anyone outside Hunter Laing itself. The first Inaugural Release, a five year old finished across ex bourbon and ex Oloroso sherry wood, appeared in 2024 in limited numbers, mostly through the distillery's own shop and allocated markets rather than the open independent bottling market. That is normal for a distillery this young and this closely held: a family firm that spent £12 million and years of planning to secure its own supply is unlikely to let much of the first mature stock go to outside brokers before it has built up its own range.

The Single Cask and Ardnahoe

We do not hold an Ardnahoe cask, and at this stage of the distillery's life, almost nobody outside Hunter Laing does. We would rather say that plainly than pad out a guide with stock we do not have. If genuine Ardnahoe casks do start reaching the wider market as the distillery matures and its own range fills out, we will treat them exactly as we treat every cask that arrives at our bonded warehouse in Glenrothes: assessed on its own merits before it goes anywhere near a bottle.

In the meantime, if it is Ardnahoe's setting and style you are drawn to rather than the name on the label, we do have genuine stock from its near neighbours on the same stretch of coast. Our current Caol Ila 9 year old and Bunnahabhain 13 year old casks come from distilleries within a few miles of Ardnahoe itself, and both give a genuine sense of what this part of Islay can produce, one leaning into classic peat smoke, the other showing the softer, less smoky side of the same coastline.

Plan a bottling inspired by Ardnahoe

Ardnahoe's story, a lifelong independent bottler finally building the distillery he had always wanted, makes it a striking name to reference in a private label project, even though a genuine Ardnahoe cask is realistically out of reach for now. If it is the heavily peated, old style Islay character that appeals, whether that is worm tub weight or classic coastal smoke more generally, our specialists can talk you through what we may currently be able to source, matched by flavour, region and cask type rather than distillery name alone.

From there, the route is the same whichever cask ends up being right for you: buy a whisky cask with verified provenance, let it mature in our bonded warehouse, and when it is ready, we can guide you through bottling it under your own label. Our four steps to bottling your own whisky sets out what that process actually involves, start to finish.

As with any cask, whisky cask ownership is not a regulated investment in the UK, and values can fall as well as rise once storage, insurance and duty are taken into account. Nothing in this guide is financial advice, and any decision to buy should rest on the whisky and the paperwork behind it, not on promised returns.

Want to talk through Islay stock we currently hold, or plan a bottling with Ardnahoe's story or style in mind? Contact us and we will give you a straight answer.

Ardnahoe FAQs

Who owns Ardnahoe distillery?

Ardnahoe is owned by Hunter Laing and Company, a family run independent bottler founded in 2013 by Stewart Laing and his sons Andrew and Scott. Stewart Laing died in April 2026, and the company continues under Andrew and Scott.

Is Ardnahoe peated?

Mostly, yes. Ardnahoe produces a mainly heavily peated spirit, around 40ppm, in the classic Islay style, alongside smaller batches of lightly peated and unpeated whisky.

When did Ardnahoe release its first whisky?

Ardnahoe's Inaugural Release, a five year old matured in ex bourbon and ex Oloroso sherry casks, appeared in 2024, five years after the distillery filled its first cask in November 2018.

Can I buy a cask of Ardnahoe whisky?

Not realistically at this stage. Ardnahoe is a very young distillery owned outright by an independent bottler, and what mature stock exists so far has gone mainly into Hunter Laing's own releases rather than onto the open market. That may change as the distillery's own range develops.

Where is Ardnahoe distillery?

Ardnahoe sits on the northeast coast of Islay near Port Askaig, between Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain, drawing its process water from the nearby Loch Ardnahoe.