MALTED BARLEY – THE MOST PEATED OF ALL THE ISLAYS

Ardbeg uses the most phenolic malt in the business (i.e. the smokiest). The malt is peated to a level of 50ppm. There have been no floor maltings at Ardbeg since 1981 so all the malt that is used in production hails from the maltings in the village of Port Ellen.

At the Distillery it is crushed into a substance called grist by our iconic and extremely rare Boby malt mill, installed in 1921.

The water we use to produce Ardbeg comes from Loch Uigeadail, 3 miles up the hill behind the Distillery. The water flows down the hill and runs into Loch Airigh Nam Beist – from there the burn takes it to Charlie’s Dam at the Distillery and from there it is piped into the Mash House.