Islay is the most southern of all the islands that make up the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland. Every year thousands of whisky tourists and whisky connoisseurs travel to the island, with one of the main attractions being the annual ‘Festival of Malt and Music’, a week-long festival held at the end of May which celebrates the cultural heritage of Islay and includes distillery tours and whisky tasting events.

Islay has 8 working distilleries: Laphroaig (pronounced la-froyg), Lagavulin (lahk-a-voolin), Ardbeg (ard-bég), Bowmore (bo-moore), Bruichladdich (broo-kladd-ee), Bunnahabhain (bū-na-ha-venn), Caol Ila (cull-eela) and Kilchoman (keel-choman).

One of the characteristics of Islay malt whisky is its peatiness, usually attributed to the water used to make the whisky and the peat levels in the soil where the barley is grown. Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Caol Ila all produce heavily peated whiskies, whereas Bruichladdich and Bunnahabhain generally tend to produce lighter whiskies with lower peat levels.

Bowmore whisky tends to have a more balanced whisky with medium levels of peat. Kilcohoman, which started production in 2006 and is the only inland distillery on the island, recently released their first 3 year old whisky.