Six decades after Stewart Laing first learned how to make whisky on Islay, he and his sons Andrew and Scott are celebrating a lifelong family dream come true with the release of the first whisky from Ardnahoe, the distillery they built on the world-famous whisky island.
Released on 10th May, Ardnahoe Inaugural Release is a limited edition 5-year-old Islay single malt Scotch whisky shaped by three generations of the Glasgow-based Laing family since the 1940s, when Stewart’s father began working in the industry.
Stewart travelled to Islay in the 1960s to learn the ropes of whisky-making, an experience that sowed the seeds of a dream which came to fruition in 2018 as Ardnahoe started distilling, just a few years after Stewart and his sons founded Hunter Laing & Co as an independent whisky blender and bottler.
Matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-oloroso sherry casks, and bottled at 50% ABV, the debut whisky was created using traditional methods overseen by distillery manager Fraser Hughes.
With Islay peat smoke on the nose, custard, ginger, lemon zest and baked apples on the palate and a long, smoky finish, the Inaugural Release is a “classic sophisticated Islay single malt”.
Stewart Laing, Managing Director at Hunter Laing & Co, said, “Building our own distillery was a hugely important and long dreamed of step and it’s been a personal ambition of mine ever since I was posted to work on Islay at Bruichladdich back in the 1960s. From finding the perfect piece of land on Islay for the distillery back in 2015 to now seeing our first whisky released, it’s truly the culmination of a lifelong dream for the Laing family.”
Inaugural Release is the first in a series of releases to come from Ardnahoe in the coming months.