Making Whisky with Arran Barley at Lagg Distillery

At Lagg Distillery, we’re always looking to blend our innovative mindset with our passion for our home turf, the Isle of Arran. For a small portion of the year, we create new make spirit with barley grown right here - a stone’s throw away from the stillhouse, in fact. 

While our sister distillery at Lochranza is gearing up to release their 10-year-old Arran Barley edition next autumn, we’re still in the early days of our journey with this local crop. This batch isn’t just about whisky - it’s about our deep connection to the land, a tribute to the island’s heritage, and an exciting exploration of how local conditions shape the character of our peated single malt. Curious? Read on!

The Importance of Arran Barley

Like water, yeast and an incredibly talented production team, barley is one of the backbone of whisky-making. But not all barley is created equal. Like most distilleries in Scotland, we source the majority of our barley from the mainland, particularly from the northeast, where the climate and soil are perfect for large-scale cultivation. Here on the Isle of Arran, our wet, windy weather and sandy soils make barley growing a bit more challenging. Over time, farmers on the island had mostly shifted away from barley cultivation.

However, we’re never one to shy away from a challenge and we’re committed to keeping our whisky rooted in the island’s terroir. That’s why we’ve partnered with Bellevue Farm in Blackwaterfoot to grow a small amount of local barley each year. This barley, grown in fields you can literally see from our stillhouse, makes up about 4-5% of our annual usage - enough for roughly one week of production. Though it’s a small portion of our overall output, this local barley new make is incredibly special, providing a direct connection to the land and a unique influence on our whisky’s character.

How Arran’s Unique Growing Conditions Shape Our New Make Spirit

The challenging conditions on Arran mean our barley develops differently compared to its mainland cousins, even though it’s the same strain (Laureate). Our island’s wind and rain toughen the crop, resulting in a thicker, hardier grain. This directly impacts the production process, particularly during mashing. The grain’s hardiness means it retains more water, leading to longer mash times. This can present challenges - many of our industry peers have had their share of local barley spirit production woes, although in some cases this is due to using the very temperamental Bere barley as the strain of choice. However, we’re happy to report that our mash process handled our locally-grown Laureate well.

Our secret? We rake our mash more frequently than the industry standard (our sister distillery up the road hardly rakes at all!), which helps us create and maintain the oily, thick texture we love in our regular spirit. By doing the same with our local barley mash, we’ve been able to embrace the quirks that come with its thickness. The result is a mash that’s not only workable but also distinct in aroma and flavour. The mash from our Arran barley gave off a smoky, bacon-like aroma - an unusual yet intriguing characteristic that carried through the production process.

A Flavour Profile Like No Other

The new make spirit from our Arran barley is distinctly different from our core range. The fact that we’ve used the same strain for the production of both will make for some interesting comparisons in the future, as the unique growing conditions on Arran impart a character of its own. Our Arran barley spirit is oilier, meatier, and has an intense, smoky profile that sets it apart from our regular new make.

This year, we experimented with a super heavily peated expression, reaching an impressive 135 parts per million (PPM) of phenols. To put that in context, last year’s barley was unpeated at 0PPM, and the year before, we went with 90PPM. The result this time? A spirit bursting with flavours of ash, smoky bacon, and even a gentle hint of cigarette ash in the best possible way - think of an old, well-loved pub. But it’s not all smoke; there’s a striking balance of grassy heather and creamy vanilla notes, adding complexity and balance to the tasting experience.

Looking to the Future: When Can You Try It?

Now that you know what makes our Arran barley new make special, you’re probably wondering when you can get your hands on it. Well, as ever, whisky-making is an exercise in patience, and we’re in no rush to release this unique spirit. We are committed to giving our whisky ample time to mature, so we’ll likely age this batch for around ten years before it’s ready for bottling. This patience will allow the complex flavours from the Arran barley to fully integrate and evolve.

When this whisky finally reaches the shelves, it won’t just be another expression from Lagg Distillery; it will be a celebration of the island’s terroir, a testament to the resilience of our farmers and their ancestry, and a tribute to the historical roots of whisky production on Arran. Just like Lochranza’s upcoming Arran barley release, we’re confident it’ll be worth the wait.

Reviving Tradition and Celebrating the Future

Using Arran barley at Lagg Distillery isn’t just a nod to tradition; it’s about reviving the island’s agricultural heritage and taking a step toward more sustainable, locally-sourced whisky production. Few production teams in Scotland can look out their stillhouse windows, see the fields where their local barley is grown and know that, in a year’s time, it will be distilled right where they stand. 

As the whisky industry continues to evolve, our commitment to using local barley places us among a small but growing group of distilleries that prioritise locality and sustainability. This movement is particularly strong on the west coast of Scotland, where distilleries like ours are increasingly looking to their immediate surroundings to source ingredients. For us at Lagg, this approach not only ties our whisky closer to its island home but also offers whisky enthusiasts a rare and authentic taste of Arran’s unique terroir.

In the coming years, as our whisky matures and develops, it will offer a glimpse into the past - perhaps even echoing the flavours of the original Lagg Distillery from 150 years ago - while also paving the way for the future of whisky production on Arran. This is more than just whisky; it’s history in a bottle, a liquid expression of the land, and a symbol of what makes us truly unique.

Did you know that we offer an experience at Lagg Distillery in partnership with Bellevue Farms? Our Barley to Bottle Tour is ideal for guests who would like to delve into the captivating journey of barley from grain to glass.