The 2011 refurbishment extended the production capacity to 6.5 million litres of new make spirit. Most of its bulk production goes into Diageo‘s blending. Caol Ila Distillery is the largest on the Isle of Islay and was established in 1846 by Hector Henderson. The water is supplied by the Loch nam Ban. The stillhouse faces the Sound of Islay with most scenic views - one of the best in Scotland.

Almost no Caol Ila rests and matures on Islay. The Victorian dunnage warehouse is almost empty (2010). The new spirit is tankered straight to the mainland.  The peated malt (35 ppm) is from Diageo‘s Port Ellen Maltings. There is also a non-peated  Single Malt version called Moch. Try them!

Special high-numbered limited bottlings especially for the Friends of Classic Malts are available. Caol Ila Malts are very popular with independent bottlers. A very large selection is on the market. The production capacity of Caol Ila Distillery was 3.6 million litres in 2008 and 3.9 million litres in 2009. The output was increased due to refurbishment which started in June 2011 to an overall production capacity of 6.5 million litres of alcohol per year. Until 2015 they worked 24/7, now only from Monday til Friday.

Two new 62.000 litres wooden washbacks were added to the existing eight, a new full lauter mash tun with a 13 tonnes capacity was installed and the control system in the stillhouse was upgraded. The six onion shaped stills are not part of the upgrading project which cost about 3.5 million Pounds and ran for six months. Caol Ila is now the fifth largest distillery in Scotland.

A new expression called Moch, Gaelic for Dawn, was published in Spring 2011.

Character: fresh, citrus, some sweetnees and peat smoke.

Distillery Site Operations Manager: Heather Wall (2016)

There is a very small visitor centre. In 2010 about 3.000 visitors came to Caol Ila. Since Caol Ila became part of the Classic Malt Selection in 2000 the sales figures have been a huge success.

Please double-click and thumbnail the photo to open the tour.

Thank you.