Caol Ila Distillery

Caol Ila Distillery

Caol Ila Distillery
Port Askaig
Isle of Islay
Argyle and Bute
Scotland
PA46 7RL

Tel: 01496 302 760
Fax: 01496 302 763
E-Mail: caolila.distillery@diageo.com

Web: Caol Ila Distillery

About Caol Ila Distillery

The History of Caol Ila Distillery

For more than 100 years small steam-engined coasters known affectionately as “puffers” brought cargoes of malting barley, coal and empty casks to CAOL ILA DISTILLERY, returning full whisky casks to the mainland through the Sound of Islay, the strait that separates Islay from Jura and which is know in the Gaelic language as Caol Ila.

When Hector Henderson, a former partner in the Littlemill Distillery, Dunbartonshire, arrived in Islay in 1846 he chose a remote and beautiful site to build his distillery, on the shores of the Sound of Islay, looking over the Paps of Jura.

One of the attractions was the plentiful supply of good, clean water from Loch nam Ban which still provides Caol Ila’s main supply today.

Stone was hewn from the surrounding rocks to build the distillery and comfortable homes for the employees, forming a little village by the shore where visitors envied the healthy lives of Caol Ila’s families; today, United Distillers still owns seven houses in Caol Ila.

Hector Henderson’s business was, however, less successful than his choice of site and was sequestrated in 1854 when Caol Ila was owned briefly by Norman Buchanan, owner of the Isle of Jura Distillery.