Islay: The Mecca of Whisky
- Mitch Bechard
- Jul 1
- 8 min read
Why now might be the best time ever to plan an Islay whisky adventure
I first started going to Islay in the early 2000s.
Back then, it felt properly disconnected. No mobile phone signal worth speaking of, WiFi was definitely not a thing, and the whole island had that wonderful sense that you had genuinely left the mainland behind. You did not so much arrive on Islay as slowly detach from the rest of the world. For fans, that was part of the magic.
Islay has always felt different. More remote. More elemental. More connected to the stuff that makes whisky feel alive: peat, weather, sea air, warehouses, people, stories and that strange affection we all develop for damp buildings full of sleeping casks.
A lot has changed since those early visits. The island is more connected now. The distillery experiences are slicker, the hospitality has stepped up, and the number of people wanting to visit has grown massively.
But after returning recently to host the Islay part of a larger private whisky adventure, I came away thinking something very clearly.
If you have ever wanted to do Islay properly, now might be the best time there has ever been and here's why.
The spiritual home of whisky
Before any whisky geek throws a bung at me, let’s be clear. The official written record of Scotch whisky begins at Lindores Abbey in 1494, when Friar John Cor was recorded as receiving malt to make aqua vitae. But if Scotch whisky has a spiritual home, Islay makes a very strong argument.
For many whisky fans, Islay is the Mecca of whisky making. It is the place people talk about in slightly hushed tones, usually while staring into a glass as if expecting the peat smoke to reveal some ancient truth.
There is something about Islay that goes beyond the liquid. Yes, the whiskies are big, bold and beautiful. Yes, the peat is legendary. Yes, the distilleries are some of the most famous in the world. But the real magic is that the whisky feels completely tied to the place.
The landscape, the sea, the people, the weather and the warehouses all seem to find their way into the glass.
You do not just visit Islay for whisky.
You go there on pilgrimage.
A bigger kind of whisky trip
This recent trip was not a small whisky day out. It was a private adventure for 16 guests, beginning in Edinburgh, the wider itinerary included Oban Distillery, the ferry to Islay, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Bowmore, Ardbeg, hotels, meals, transfers, ferry tickets and all the timings needed to make it actually work.
And that is the thing with bigger groups.
The glamorous part is the private warehouse tasting, the distillery dinner, the rare drams and the sea views. The less glamorous part is making sure 16 people, luggage, ferries, coaches, taxis, hotel rooms, meal preorders, dietary requirements and distillery timings all line up without anyone being accidentally abandoned in a car park holding a smoked salmon salad. That is where the real planning sits.
A huge amount of credit for this trip has to go to Jo, our Experiences Manager at CopperCairn, who coordinated the whole thing behind the scenes. With a group of 16 moving from Edinburgh to Oban, across to Islay, then back again, there were a lot of plates to keep spinning.
My role on Islay was to bring the whisky, stories and hosting together. Jo’s work meant the whole trip was actually there to be hosted in the first place. Which is fairly useful, as it turns out.
At CopperCairn, we are best known for Speyside whisky experiences, but we also create larger private whisky adventures across Scotland. These are not standard tours with a bigger vehicle. They are built around the group, the pace, the access and the kind of moments that turn a trip into something people remember for years.
Islay has changed, but the people still matter most
One thing I always say about Islay is that it is the friendliest place in Scotland.
I still believe that.
But I would be lying if I said I did not worry about it a little. Increased tourism, more distilleries, more visitors and more demand all bring opportunity, but they also bring pressure. The danger with any place that becomes famous for its welcome is that the welcome can be worn thin. So far, Islay still has it.
The warmth is still there. The humour is still there. The feeling that people genuinely care about the island and its whisky is still there. And you see that most clearly in the people who work in and around the distilleries.
One of the standout moments of this trip was visiting Ardnahoe with Distillery Manager David Livingstone.
What made the visit special was not just the access, although that certainly helps. It was his passion. It was obvious. And that passion is still one of the things Islay does better than almost anywhere else.
Distilleries are not just buildings, stills and visitor centres. They are people, families, stories, graft and knowledge passed down through generations. Ardnahoe is one of Islay’s newer distilleries, but the passion behind it feels properly rooted in the island.
That balance between old Islay and new Islay is what makes things interesting.
Private warehouse drams and the magic of the cask
For all the new hotels, smarter tasting rooms, better restaurants and bigger visitor experiences, the thing that still matters most is the whisky.
It is still big.
Still bold.
Still beautiful.
On this trip, Lagavulin, Laphroaig and Ardbeg were not standard visitor centre tastings. They were private warehouse experiences, with cask drawn drams and whiskies you cannot simply find sitting on a shelf somewhere.
There is something completely different about tasting whisky in the place it is maturing. Standing among the casks, with the smell of damp wood, spirit, stone and time in the air, the warehouse does half the storytelling before anyone has even lifted a glass.
Whether you are standing in a warehouse at Lagavulin, tasting cask drawn drams at Laphroaig, sitting in Bowmore with Loch Indaal outside the window, visiting Ardnahoe with someone like David, looking out from Bunnahabhain’s new tasting room across the water towards the Paps of Jura, or finishing the day with a private warehouse tasting at Ardbeg, Islay still delivers that feeling whisky lovers chase.
A sense of place in a glass.
Bowmore, dinner and beginner whisky
There is always something special about having dinner inside a distillery. It changes the feel of everything. You are not just drinking whisky in a nice room. You are inside the place itself, surrounded by the stories, smells and history that make the whisky what it is.
Bowmore was one of the real highlights of the trip. Sitting in the tasting room, looking out across Loch Indaal, with dinner and a private tasting laid on, was one of those moments that reminds you why people travel halfway across the world for whisky.
The drams did not exactly hurt either.
The line up included:
Bowmore Vintage 1984, 28 years old, bottled in 2012
Bowmore Fèis Ìle 2024
Bowmore 25 year old, Vintage 1997, The Distiller’s Anthology 02.
In technical terms, not too shabby.
At one point during the dinner, I made the dangerous mistake of joking that I was from Speyside, where the real whisky is made.
The Bowmore representative replied instantly: "You mean beginner whisky.”
Fair. Wounding, but fair.
That exchange summed up a lot of what I love about Islay. Big whisky, big character and no patience for my banter.
The new level of Islay hospitality
The whisky is still the anchor, but the wider experience of visiting Islay has changed hugely.
Our guests stayed at The Machrie, which is a brilliant example of how the island’s hospitality has stepped up. Set above the dunes, beside a seven mile beach, with golf, food, space and a proper sense of place, it gives visitors a different version of Islay luxury.
That matters for the kind of trips we create. A great whisky adventure is not just about what happens inside the distilleries. It is the whole rhythm of the trip. Where you wake up. Where you eat. Where you get breathing space between tastings. Where you can look out over the Atlantic and quietly pretend you are being reflective, when really you are just thinking about the next dram.
Ardbeg House is another clear sign of the shift. Modern, funky and completely over the top for the senses, but somehow exactly right for Ardbeg. Bold, playful, immersive and just a little bit bonkers.
This is a long way from the old Islay I first visited in the early 2000s, but I do not mean that as a criticism. The island is moving forward. The challenge is whether it can grow without losing itself. Places like The Machrie and Ardbeg House suggest it can, as long as the character stays in the driving seat and the spreadsheet is kept safely in the boot.
A glimpse of what comes next
I was also lucky enough to get a look around Portintruan with Georgie Crawford, who is a good friend of mine.
I will keep the finer details under my hat, partly because Georgie swore me to secrecy and partly because I enjoy waking up without angry messages from distillery folk.
But I can say this: it left me feeling very positive about Islay’s future.
The scale is massive. The floor maltings are a serious statement. With a restaurant and bar in the mix too, it feels like it is ticking all the boxes for what a modern Islay distillery experience can be.
I also saw that Laggan Bay Distillery, near the airport, is now open. Another sign that Islay’s whisky story is still moving forward. Not replacing the old magic, hopefully, but adding new chapters to it.
And that is really how I felt coming away from this trip.
A little nostalgic for the old Islay, absolutely. I miss that disconnected feeling. I miss the sense that you were slightly off grid, and that the mainland could wait. But I did not come away feeling gloomy.
I came away feeling that Islay is changing, yes, but there is still a lot to be excited about.
Why now is the time to go
If Islay has been sitting on your whisky bucket list, I honestly think now is the time. The old magic is still there. The friendliness is still there. The whisky is still immense. But the level of experience available now is better than ever. Private warehouse tastings. Distillery dinners. Excellent hotels like The Machrie. Ambitious new openings. Better food. Better access.
That does not mean Islay should become just another luxury whisky destination.
It's better than that.
It is still wild enough, strange enough, warm enough and smoky enough to feel like somewhere genuinely special. It still makes you work a little to get there, and I like that. A pilgrimage should involve at least one ferry and a mild concern about the weather.
Let us build your Islay adventure
At CopperCairn, we create private whisky experiences across Scotland, from relaxed Speyside days to larger, fully planned island adventures.
If you want to do Islay properly, we can help bring it together: ferries, hotels, transport, tastings, dinners, distillery access, stories, drams and all the little moving parts that make the difference between a good trip and a once in a lifetime one.
You bring the people.
We will bring the planning, the whisky knowledge and just enough nonsense to keep it fun.
Get in touch and let’s start building your Islay whisky adventure.
Mitch Bechard
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