Ardnamurchan Distillery — Highland Single Malt Whisky

Ardnamurchan Distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery located near Glenbeg on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, Lochaber, in the Scottish Highlands. It was founded in 2014 and is currently owned by Adelphi Distillery Ltd, the long-established independent bottler. It holds the distinction of being the most westerly whisky distillery on the Scottish mainland, and is unusual for running largely on renewable power from its own hydro-electric turbine and biomass boiler.

History

Adelphi Distillery Ltd — an independent bottling company revived in 1993 by Jamie Walker and later taken on by Keith Falconer and Donald Houston — submitted plans for its own production distillery in 2011. The proposal was approved by Highland Council in April 2012, and construction on the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula began in 2013. The distillery was completed in May 2014, and its first spirit ran from the stills on 11 July 2014. Designed by Harley Haddow and built to make use of the site's natural resources, Ardnamurchan draws process water from springs above the distillery and cooling water from the nearby Loch Sunart and Glenmore River, while power comes from a hydro-electric generator and a biomass boiler fed by timber from the surrounding Ardnamurchan estate forest. The distillery produces both peated (around 30 ppm) and unpeated West Highland-style single malt, and its first legal-age single malt, meeting the statutory three-year minimum, was released in 2017. By 2020 the distillery had filled over 10,000 casks, and it has since built a reputation as one of Scotland's most acclaimed "new wave" distilleries, winning multiple industry awards for its releases.

Quick Facts

• Region: Highland (West Highland / Lochaber, Ardnamurchan peninsula)
• Founded: 2014
• Owner: Adelphi Distillery Ltd
• Status: Active
• Stills: 1 wash still (10,000 litres), 1 spirit still (6,000 litres)

Core Range

Ardnamurchan's core range is built around AD/, a single malt blending equal parts peated and unpeated spirit matured in a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, bottled at 46.8% ABV, non-chill-filtered and natural colour. The range also includes limited cask-strength and single-cask releases showcasing coastal peat smoke, vanilla and spice, plus sherry-cask expressions. Adelphi also markets Ardnamurchan M&B (Peated/Unpeated) single cask bottlings and continues its long-running blended malt, The Ileach and Adelphi's own blends, alongside the distillery's own-name output.