Known as “Scotland in miniature,” the Isle of Arran has everything: mountains and lowlands, glens, lock and even royal castles. Sandwiched in between the coast of Ayr and the Kintyre peninsula, it was once home to over 50 distilleries, with many of them illegal distilleries–or “illicit stills”–who used the rugged landscape to hide from the taxman. Now, there are two, both owned by the Arran distillery.

Production began at their first distillery in beautiful Lochranza almost 25 years ago. Many other locations were considered at the time, but the proximity to Loch na Davie provided a rather special source of fresh water for distilling; a source they knew would hold them in good stead in the years to come. Their second distillery opened in the south of the island last year at Lagg, where they make a very unique style of peated single malt.

Arran whisky is made using only traditional methods of distilling, with wooden washbacks and copper stills designed to their exact specification. The location offers perfect water for whisky production, cleansed by granite and softened by peat as it comes down from the mountain above. The atmosphere of sea breezes and clear mountain air together with the warm flow of the Gulf Stream matures the Arran Malt to perfection in earth floored warehouses.