Lagg

Lagg is the second distillery of Isle of Arran Distillers to produce Whisky on the Isle of Arran, alongside Lochranza distillery. The modern distillery building that opened in 2019, is modelled on the contours of the mountains on the Isle of Arran, as seen from the tiny island of Ailsa Craig.

Video
This slot is intended for displaying content of the external provider (https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/). Please be aware that this content as well as the processing of your user data when clicking on this link is outside of Whisky.de's responsibility and potentially not subject to the General Data Protection Regulation anymore.
Manage details and settings for cookies and third party providers
Information about the Distillery
7 Bottles
Scotland, Islands
-5.236059 55.445740
Active
Arran Distillers
2019
https://www.laggwhisky.com/
Average tasting notes Tasting notes
Calculated from 93 Tasting Notes
i
Nosing
Peat Smoke:
Peat Smoke:
Sweet:
Herbs:
Herbs:
Sweet:
Maritime Notes:
Maritime Notes:
Zitrus:
Zitrus:
Fruit:
Heather:
Heather:
Grass:
Salt:
Herb:
Herb:
Berries:
Grass:
Salt:
Berries:
Dark Chocolate:
Spices:
Dark Chocolate:
Spices:
Seaweed:
Honey:
Seaweed:
Honey:
Chocolate:
Malt:
Malt:
Chocolate:
Vanilla:
Vanilla:
Sherry:
Sherry:
Oak:
Floral:
Floral:
Oak:
Fruit:
Alcohol:
Bonfire Smoke:
Bonfire Smoke:
Alcohol:
Blackberry:
Lemon Peel:
Ham:
Nuts:
Ham:
Lemon Peel:
Blackberry:
Barley:
Iodine:
Lemon:
Lemon:
Oil:
Black Currant:
Hazelnut:
Orange:
Black Currant:
Red Currant:
Nuts:
Oil:
Hazelnut:
Orange:
Iodine:
Barley:
Red Currant:
Tasting
Peat Smoke:
Peat Smoke:
Sweet:
Sweet:
Spices:
Vanilla:
Vanilla:
Spices:
Fruit:
Maritime Notes:
Maritime Notes:
Malt:
Fruit:
Malt:
Nuts:
Honey:
Sherry:
Honey:
Salt:
Salt:
Zitrus:
Zitrus:
Sherry:
Seaweed:
Seaweed:
Oak:
Oak:
Herb:
Hazelnut:
Hazelnut:
Herbs:
Herb:
Herbs:
Bonfire Smoke:
Bonfire Smoke:
Dried Fruit:
Grass:
Grass:
Nuts:
Dried Fruit:
Lemon:
Heather:
Lemon:
Heather:
Ham:
Dark Chocolate:
Alcohol:
Cinnamon:
Chocolate:
Dark Chocolate:
Oil:
Berries:
Chocolate:
Berries:
Oil:
Alcohol:
Ham:
Cinnamon:
Lime:
Cherry:
Grapefruit:
Fig:
Fig:
Grapefruit:
Apple:
Cake:
Cherry:
Pineapple:
Black Currant:
Cake:
Medicinal Smoke:
Tobacco:
Walnut:
Pineapple:
Barley:
Orange:
Pepper:
Apple:
Orange:
Lemon Peel:
Black Currant:
Walnut:
Barley:
Pepper:
Tobacco:
Medicinal Smoke:
Lime:
Lemon Peel:
Finish
Peat Smoke:
Peat Smoke:
Sweet:
Sweet:
Oak:
Oak:
Spices:
Sherry:
Sherry:
Herb:
Herb:
Alcohol:
Alcohol:
Maritime Notes:
Malt:
Malt:
Maritime Notes:
Bonfire Smoke:
Bonfire Smoke:
Spices:
Nuts:
Seaweed:
Zitrus:
Zitrus:
Seaweed:
Pepper:
Pepper:
Herbs:
Herbs:
Salt:
Berries:
Dark Chocolate:
Lemon:
Hazelnut:
Chocolate:
Hazelnut:
Dark Chocolate:
Fruit:
Chili:
Lemon:
Berries:
Chocolate:
Fruit:
Chili:
Salt:
Lemon Peel:
Leather:
Walnut:
Caramel:
Cinnamon:
Honey:
Cherry:
Nutmeg:
Ham:
Oil:
Heather:
Oil:
Caramel:
Leather:
Walnut:
Heather:
Orange:
Grass:
Vanilla:
Nutmeg:
Ham:
Cherry:
Orange:
Grass:
Nuts:
Vanilla:
Dried Fruit:
Cinnamon:
Lemon Peel:
Honey:
Dried Fruit:
Details about the Distillery

The Whisky

The first batch of Lagg Whisky was bottled in 2022 at 50% volume. The distillery used malted barley peated to 50ppm for this.

The distillery's corerange includes the Lagg Kilmory Edition and the Lagg Corriecravie Edition, both named after villages near the distillery.

In addition, the Arran distilleries launched "Project North and South" in early 2020. Half peated spirit from Lagg and half unpeated spirit from Lochranza were blended and then filled into casks for maturation.

Production

The Lagg distillery draws its fresh spring water from a specially drilled well 110 metres deep. Before the establishment of the second distillery on Arran, both unpeated Arran Whisky and peated Machrie Moor Whisky were produced at the Lochranza distillery in the north of the island. However, as it is very difficult to produce both types under one roof, the smoky line of Isle of Arran Distillers is now only produced at Lagg. The 50ppm peat used for this comes from the Scottish Highlands in the Aberdeen area and is more woody, grassy and floral in contrast to the phenolic, salty, medicinal island peat.

The Pot Stills

Distilling at Lagg is traditional, which means a lot is still done manually, such as screwing on valves and measuring the alcohol content. You won't find a computer-controlled system here. The wash still has a volume of 10,000 litres, the spirit still holds 7,000 litres, but is filled with 6,500 litres. Its rather compact, wide shape produces an oily, grassy spirit with lots of flavourful texture.

The distillery has an energy recovery system through which hot water is passed. This allows process water to be heated to 90 degrees and saves energy.

The Mashing

The mash tun at Lagg is filled with four tonnes of barley meal and 16,500 litres of water, then heated and mixed very vigorously with a rake. In the resulting cloudy wort, flavours are produced that also tend to be grassy and oily.

Fermentation

Lagg has four wooden washbacks and a charger, also wooden, which is used to fill the wash still and is the only one with a measuring instrument. The washbacks are filled with 20,000 litres and yeast is added. Two different types of yeast are used: the first is added to start the fermentation process and produce alcohol, the second to further adjust the taste. The average fermentation time at Lagg is 78 hours and again produces the desired grassy character.

The Warehouses

The distillery has a lot of storage space, which it puts to good use: In the first year 250,000 litres of pure alcohol were produced, in the second year already 550,000 litres. Some of the casks from the sister distillery Lochranza are also stored in Lagg's large and well-filled warehouses. The casks of the Lagg Cask Society are as well kept there. These come from investors who bought casks to finance the distillery and get their cask and a bottle of the very first cask bottled after 10 years of storage.

The distillery uses 90 per cent bourbon barrels (75 per cent first fill, 25 per cent second fill). There are also some second fill casks from Lochranza. Lagg also uses finishes in different casks: Sherry, Wine and Amarone casks, but also Rum casks, including from the well-known Plantation Rum. And there are also variations in cask size. In addition to quarter casks, firkin casks, which are relatively small at around 50 litres, are also used.

The History

Construction of the Lagg distillery began in 2017 on the Isle of Arran. In spring 2019, the first spirit flowed through the stills and on 10 April 2019, cask number 1 was filled.

Visitor information

Address:

Lagg Distillery
Kilmory
Isle of Arran
KA27 8PG
Tel: +44 1770-870565
E-Mail: info@remove-this.laggwhisky.com 

User Notes about the Distillery

Share your experience with other whisky lovers. Write a note about your trip to the Lagg distillery.

Max. 2000 characters. Exceeding Characters will not be saved!
There are no user notes for this distillery yet.