Facts about this distillery
Established
1815
Owner
Beam Suntory
Annual Capacity
3,300,000 Litres
Region
Islay
Number of Stills
Seven pot stills – three wash, four spirit
Laphroaig Distillery. The king of richly flavoured Scotch.
King Charles’ favourite single malt is the 15-year-old Laphroaig. So much so that he personally granted Laphroaig Distillery a Royal Warrant in 1994. Remarkably, it is the only Scotch whisky to receive such an honour.
Islay’s south coast Laphroaig calls itself ‘the most richly flavoured of all Scotch whiskies’ – its flavour comes from its near coastal location and the high moss content of its peat. Around 10% of their barley is malted on-site using hand-cut peat from Islay.
Brothers Donald and Alexander Johnston established the distillery in 1815. It’s family run until 1954, when Ian Hunter passes and leaves the distillery to his secretary, Elisabeth ‘Bessie’ Williamson. Bessie was a whisky legend – she was the only female to own and run a Scottish distillery in the 20th century.
Islay’s most in-demand Scotch, thanks to Bessie.
It was Bessie who ploughed a substantial investment into the distillery to update and maximise production facilities and warehousing capacity.
Long John Distillers acquired the share capital in Laphroaig from Bessie in three instalments. She told her fellow board members that she had kept on many of employees because ‘we have no pension scheme’. Alas, when Long John arrived, redundancies were made.
Current owners, Beam Suntory, bought the distillery in 2011. The Scotch is commonly aged to 10 years, yet the 15-year-old variety is common. The 27-, 30- and 40-year-olds are rare and expensive.
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