By Scott Wright
THE Isle of Arran’s newest distillery has unveiled details of its maiden single malt, declaring that it brings a contemporary twist to traditional ways of producing peated whisky.
Lagg Single Malt will officially be released next month in three separate, limited-edition batches. The three-year-old dram makes its appearance after the first middle cut of spirt was recorded at the Lagg distillery at 14.35pm on Tuesday, March 19, 2019.
The inaugural releases were made with Concerto malted barley, water from the distillery’s own borehole, and peat sourced from the Highlands, which combine to give a “the perfect gentle, aromatic, woody smoke” to the whisky.
Based on the southern tip of Arran, Lagg is the sister of the independently owned Lochranza Distillery on the north of the island. Lochranza, which was established in 1995, makes the Isle of Arran single malt.
As well as making its heavily peated whisky, Lagg said it is committed to supporting local projects focused on preserving peatlands, which are regarded as highly efficient, carbon sinks, for environmental purposes.
Graham Omand, distillery manager at Lagg, said: “It’s every stillman’s dream to be given such an amazing opportunity to manage a beautiful site like Lagg. I am going to make sure it’s a legacy that I’ll be proud to say I helped build. We are delighted to finally announce the very first inaugural single malt release from Lagg.”
Speaking to The Herald earlier this month, Mr Omand explained that while the distillery was keen to unveil its inaugural spirit, the release would be very limited in nature.
He said: “We don’t want to give out too much. The important thing about running a distillery is managing your casks and managing your future releases. It is very tempting [to release whisky when you can] but you are really digging a hole for yourselves years down the line if you have this big gap of barrels you have syphoned off.”
The site now occupied by Lagg Distillery had initially been earmarked by its owner to build further warehousing for Lochranza, as well as a craft distillery to “work in tandem” with the original facility. But the plans became more ambitious, and Lagg was ultimately developed into a full-scale distillery. Lagg currently has the capacity to produce 750,000 litres of alcohol per year.
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