Top 10 Food & Drink in Islay, Scotland

For nearly 200 years a small team of dedicated islanders have worked here to create what is considered to be the most distinctive single malt in the world. Of course over time the people change, but our traditional methods, the ancient skills and absolute dedication to quality always remains. We would be proud if you make the journey to visit our home and you will be assured of the warmest of welcomes when you do.

We are an innovative Islay distillery producing unpeated Bruichladdich, heavily peated Port Charlotte and super-heavily peated Octomore single malt whiskies. We use a wide range of barley types, including organic and bere, grown on a variety of terroirs including Islay. We also distill The Botanist gin. Mary at the Laddieshop will be glad to organise a tour of our distillery for you and the distilling team will happily answer any questions you may have.

Islay Whisky Tours offer bespoke private tours around Islay and Jura taking in the wonderful scenery, history and single malt distilleries. We offer 1 - 4 day tours built around your wishes and "must see" requests. Please join us and sample "A true taste of Islay hospitality". Bowmore Taxi Service operates throughout Islay when you just need to get from A to B. Airport, ferries, hotel transfers and distilleries.

Kilchoman Distillery is a family run, independently owned single malt whisky distillery on Islay. It was the first to be opened on the island in over 124 years and is currently the only distillery producing whisky entirely on the island from barley that is grown on Rockside Farm, malted, distilled, matured and bottled on site. It is the smallest distillery and offers regular tours throughout the day. A cafe serving light lunches, homemade cakes and fresh tea and coffee is also open during the hours of 10am - 4.45pm. Advanced bookings for tours are encouraged to avoid disappointment.

Following Scottish Government guidelines through their phased re-opening approach, the time has come to open our doors and welcome back our visitors from 26th April 2021. To ensure the health and wellbeing of our employees and visitors, we will be implementing a number of precautionary measures. Find out how we are keeping you safe on our website before you visit us.

DISTILLERY VISITOR CENTRE & SHOP IS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. Due to the ongoing construction work on the major transformation of the Caol Ila Distillery visitor experience, we have had to make the decision to close our visitor centre from September 2019. For the health and safety of the public while the construction work is underway the road into the distillery will be also be closed to all traffic with no un-authorised access. This means that unfortunately we will no longer be able to host our tours or tasting experiences. However, we do have our Caol Ila whiskies available at Lagavulin Distillery in the Malt Mill Bar (our sister distillery). We are sorry to have caused any inconvenience to your plans during your visit to Islay.

Islay is a world-class destination in its own right, but for the Scotch whisky lover it is without rival. For those of you lucky enough to visit our wonderful island, a tour of the Bowmore Distillery is a must. It’s here, in Islay’s capital, that we’ve been making Bowmore Scotch whisky for almost two and half centuries. Rich in heritage and awash in expertise, our tours will give you a privileged insight into life behind the distillery gates, and you’ll see for yourself why so many people keep coming back to Bowmore.