Award-winning Arran Distillery reveals expansion plans

By Mathew Lyons

Published: 22 March, 2016

The award-winning Isle of Arran Distillery has revealed plans to build a second distillery on the island to complement its original location on Lochranza.

The distillery, which is celebrating its 21st anniversary this year, has chosen Lagg on Arran's south coast for its expansion.

The site chosen was the location for a 19th-century distillery, which ended production in 1837.

Prior to the launch of the Isle of Arran Distillery, it had been the last legal still on Arran.

The company's expansion plans are designed to accommodate the distillery's growing production volumes and rapidly increasing visitor numbers.

The distillery is currently installing two new pot stills and a blending room at Lochranza.

Founded in 1995, Arran's award-winning whiskies include the 12 year-old Cask Strength, which took double gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2013.

Its visitor centre was opened by Her Majesty The Queen in 1997 and offers both small-scale tours and in-depth whisky experiences.

It won the Scottish Field Whisky Challenge's Best Distillery Visitor Experience for the second year running last year.

The new site at Lagg will allow for further storage and production, as well as a second visitor centre.

Euan Mitchell, managing director of Isle of Arran Distillers, said: "This is a very exciting time for the business. Demand for The Arran Malt continues to grow and each season visitor numbers to the Lochranza site in the north of the island increase greatly.

"Lagg is steeped in the history of whisky making on the island and we intend to uphold that tradition.

"We hope that, subject to planning permission, the Lagg distillery will allow us the capacity to introduce more people to single malt Scotch whisky from Arran and provide the same warm welcome on the south of the island that visitors enjoy at Lochranza."

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