Ardnamurhcan Distillery

Situated on the Southern coast of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, the most westerly point of mainland Britain, Ardnamurchan has quickly established itself as a firm enthusiasts favourite. With the first spirit running off the stills in 2014, the distillery recently celebrated 10 years of whisky making on the ‘Great Headland of the seas’.

Renowned for its rugged West Coast character it is very much a 21st Century distillery producing whisky in the tradition of days gone by.

Ardnamurchan Distillery. Rigghill Burn.

Taking the Corran ferry to Ardgour feels like a fun way to make the trip to Glenbeg. The scenery on the drive out is fantastic, even on a typically moody Scottish summers day.

Ardnamurchan Distillery, Rigghill Burn

The entry level ‘Taste the story’ tour was great. It covered all aspects of how Ardnamurchan was made, including a good bit of detail on their ‘Responsible Distilling’ ethos. As part of this a woodchip biomass boiler creates the energy needed for nearly all the production process including generating the steam to heat the wash and spirit stills. This boiler is fuelled by wood sourced from within a 15 mile radius of the distillery.

Ardnamurchan Distillery, Rigghill Burn

We had hoped to get on the ‘Behind the scenes’ tour but unfortunately it was fully booked. As such I was feeling a little disappointed that we may not get to see in the dunnage warehouses, so I was pleasantly surprised to find this was our first stop on the tour…a bit back to front compared to other distillery tours I’ve experienced but very welcome all the same. The sheer sense of atmosphere in these spaces is always quite special.

Ardnamurchan Distillery, Rigghill Burn

100% of Ardnamurchan is warehoused and matured on site at Glenbeg, almost entirely in traditional dunnage warehouses.

Ardnamurhchan’s wooden washbacks and their 3.2m mashtun…specifically sized to be able to be transported across the narrowest bridge on the peninsula.

Ardnamurchan Distillery,  Rigghill Burn

We finished the tour with a taste of the AD / Core release, a whisky I’m very familiar with but one which I was more than happy to enjoy again in the place that it was made. Toasted marshmallows, every time.

In the shop the hand fill option is good value at £50 for 50cl so felt it was the only sensible purchase to commemorate the pilgrimage to this remote West Coast location.

5 year old Un-peated PX Octave. Cask 923R. 60.3%

Great tour and a brilliant distillery doing brilliant things. Hopefully we’ll be back soon.

Ardnamurchan Distillery Rigghill Burn
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