Ardbeg Distillery

Stopped in for lunch...and what a lunch it was. (1) The food was amazing. Smoked haddock chowder and scallops entree. The absolute best lunch I have ever eaten. The soup was decadent with large fish pieces. The scallops were seared perfectly and the sauce has a very small amount of yellow mustard taste. I was stunned. Yellow mustard! But it was shockingly perfect. (2) The gift shop is nice and combines with the tasting area. The welcome dram turned into a few "just a taste" pours. The variety of expressions here is almost overwhelming. I highly recommend talking with the staff about your preferences and letting them make recommendations. Our hostess was very knowledgeable, even about past releases and how their expressions compared to other Islay distilleries. Had we simply ordered a flight and sat down we would have truly missed out. (3) Size and setting. This place looks like they are ready to host a very large party outside. A food truck and plenty of patio tables. I wish I could be here when that area fills up.

Ardbeg is not only iconic, it's also beautiful. The premises are well maintained, child and dog friendly. Staff is super knowledgeable and welcoming. The tour was amazing, very personal and with super interesting insights (and drams).

The most UNPLEASANT experience in Islay!!! My friends and I were visiting all the single malt distilleries on Islay, because we are whisky fans and collectors. The past October 6, 2025 at 16:00 hours we visit ARDBEG distillery. The place is nice, well maintained, a lot of parking spaces and the merchandise interesting and from excellent quality. Let's not talk about the whisky that is liked by us and millions of people. The place had many visitors, in a bit chaotic movement but well... That's how it supposed to be... BUT THE ATTENTION OF THE PERSONAL WAST THE WORST WE HAD IN ALL ISLAY!! Terrible mood, no manners, disrespectful, diminishing, hostile attitude, no information, no tasting drams, they really make our visit TOTALLY UNPLEASANT. Before that attitude of the personal I did not buy NOTHING and we left from the place immediately. I don't pretend to be back in there to be mistreated again. If you take the risk and visit the place RUN AWAY FROM THE EMPLOYEE NAMED 👉🏻 MATTHEW👈🏻 not a nice person...

I came here fresh from an early morning visit to Kidalton so whisky tasting wasn't really on my radar but rather to see if either the food truck or the visitor's centre were open. I had to wait a while for the centre to open in order to grab a coffee and I have to salute the extremely friendly staff of the centre who even gave me a free "driver's dram" for later consumption. The Distillery itself is delightfully quirky and worth the visit (including for the whisky).

Of all the distilleries on Islay, this one is my favorite. A fan of the 10 for many years I was so excited to take the tour and experience the culture in real life. Nestled so beautifully on the water, the tour is laid back and informative, with real big pours, and the only tour that let us try the new spirit (tastes like schnapps). The tasting room and store are so funky and we enjoyed lunch in the restaurant, had the famous fish chowder, and it didn’t disappoint. Could have spent hours here!

Never Head Arsbeg on my List. Since our visit last sunday with Rabbies and the outstanding presentation with innovative Whiskys , Ardbeg became my favorite Distillery on that special Island. Go on that way, can‘t get enough.

Update and correction. This review is focused only on Ardbeg's Smoketrails Cote Rotie, intended mostly for Airport Travellers exclusive sales. I have been an ardent fan and committee member of Ardbeg for many years and owned over 30 different bottles of Ardbeg's limited release including Supernova 2014 and 2015, Ardbog, Galileo, Alligator, Perpetuum, Auriverdes, Arrrrrrrrbeg, etc. Last night I opened, for the first time, a bottle of Smoketrails Cote Rotie for friends after a pre Christmas dinner. Most of my friends are foreign to Ardbeg which made them unbiased. This bottle of Smoketrails Cote Rotie is in my opinion the worst Ardbeg I have ever tried. There have been some mediocre Ardbeg's limited releases in recent years but none beats the mediocrity of Smoketrails Cote Rotie. Me and none of my friends find favour with this whisky. It was totally devoid of any Ardbeg's signature characters like the saline smoke and signature sweet smoke finishing. The one and only dominant flavour was hot peppers (Cote Rotie is the main susupect) and it felt hottish. If Ardbeg were to retain it's lofty but deserving reputation, this Smoketrails Cote Rotie should never be allowed to see the lights of day. Where was Dr Bill Lumsden? It is sad that big corporations like LVMH (not Diageo as mistakenly stated in my initial review), owner of Ardbeg, is perhaps trying to milk every ounce of Ardbeg's reputation for their bottom line. I have sensed this a few years ago but being ardent, I persisted and continued to buy their yearly/annual limited releases. I think one can only take his/her loyal fans for granted for so long, but for me, I wont be buying any of the 2026 Ardbeg limited release, usually available for sale on 31st May of each year which was intended to coincide with Islay's Annual festival, Feis Ile. Apologies to Diageo, Ardbeg is owned by LVMH.

The distillery is very easy to reach and has a well set out courtyard. The gift shop/visitor experience is lovely too. We booked the Weekend Whisky Wander with Emma. This was a thoroughly enjoyable gentle walk. Emma had time to talk about Ardbeg and island life. We had a pack lunch in the sun on the small hill. Can't think of anything more perfect. We also sampled several generous expensive drams on the way round. Best of our 3 tours all down to Emma

Great distillery. Venue was nice snd staff friendly. Would definitely visit again if we return to Islay.

Stopped in for lunch after a morning tour at Lagavulin. We were promptly seated and the staff was terrific. The food was also good. The only thing that was a bit mid was the apple strudel. Cute spot that's well worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood.

One of the best experiences on Islay and during our trip to Scotland. The service was great, from the people helping us at the front to the tour. 5 stars. We got a chance to visit 3 distilleries, and this was the best!! The whiskey was great, the history was too but the quality of the tour along with the samples along the way to highlight different aspects of the whisky, the island and Scotland was awesome. The merchandise was reasonably priced and the people very helpful. If you are going to Islay it is a must stop. If not and you are in Scotland you should try and make it over. Supper easy to get ferry to port Ellen and it is about 3 miles up the road. There is a cool distillery walk past laophroig and lagavulin. Or you can hire a service. Our tour guide was great. She did a first rate job.

Great! The property and tour are one of the best on the island. The staff and guides are helpful and knowledgeable. And their products are quite good. Ardbeg is also one of the few distilleries on the island with a cafe.

If you are looking to take a tour of a local whiskey distillery, this is a great one to go on. My husband and I booked a tour and really enjoyed it. The hostess was really nice and she knew her business. The place was rather romantic, not in a lovers kind of way but in a way that takes you back to a different time, perhaps, or another mentality. Could it have been the three hefty drams we had along the way?? Could be! Good fun, for sure. Take your car, there's plenty of parking, and even if the island thinks it's busy, it's not. It's all relative. You can get your car on the ferry, just book car ferry tickets in advance, and you'll be just fine. Don't want to drink and drive, no worry, you can still tour, and they'll set you up with a car pack to enjoy a dram at a later date.

One of the top three on the island to visit. Aside from looking fantastic on the outside, the inside has a crackin' cafe. cullin Skink soup served here and a choice of different yummy toasted panini fillings. The service is great too, the girl even gave me two wee whisky glasses to take home and made my whisky flight specific to me so I could try some different things. The shop is nice, lots of books which was a nice change from other distilleries. We went for a look in the chairmans study which is a small tasting room with interesting distillery items including old logs. My favourite part though was the back of the distillery. Don't miss this area, go for a walk around the grounds. You are literally on a cliff edge with wild sea infront of you and a zillion casks behind you, the photo opportunities are amazing. Plus the whisky is great!

I mean, it's world class whisky and they have an awesome kitchen. What is there to possibly complain about? Friendly staff and a wide variety of top notch booze that can't be matched outside of Islay. If in Scotland, do yourself a favor and come to Islay and Ardbeg.

To me the quintessential scotch. Not for the faint of heart and generally not the way to introduce a first timer to it. It's about as peaty as it gets and you may think that consuming the earth of Islay itself. It just doesn't really get any better than this and is worth the journey to appreciate it's brilliance.

This distillery was worth the long walk from Laproiag and was the only one that had a cafe (much needed after so much scotch!). After going through weeks of scotch tastings, it was nice to come to a smaller distillery that had a more intimate tour. The biggest difference was the emphasis on the science portion of the scotch-making process. My husband and I are both from a science background and we thoroughly appreciated having a deeper look into the chemistry of the process. Our tour guide was fantastic and when asked around with other guests, seems like all their guides are fantastic. It also looks like everyone helps out-cafe, gift store, tours-everyone is a jack of all trades! The gift store was small and staff told us that inventory was being reordered and we were unfortunately in the off-season so my husband didn't get to purchase any merchandise. But, we did get some awesome leather coasters. After coming back to the States and looking back at our tours, we would recommend touring on Islay, specifically Ardbeg, as the last couple stops in Scotland. The island has little to no round-abouts and the vibe is much slower than the main island. Wish we were back!

Not enough good things to say about this place. Great staff. Clean facility. Wonderful tours. Great tastings. Great merchandise. Definitely buy what you want while there because you can't get it in the States.

I think their whisky is good, so you can expect some great tastings. However, this was one of the most touristy distilleries and lacked a lot of the subtlety that Lagavulin and Laphroaig had in their facilities. Ardbeg required us to sit down and get full service for tastings, which I did not like, and it ended up taking a lot of time compared to other distilleries that allow you to come and go as you please.

Great experience. We stayed at the sea view cottage and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The Ardbeg tour was fantastic, thank you Emma for sharing your heritage. We highly recommend renting the cottage to help you fully experience Islay. If you have a chance to visit Scotland by all means please visit Islay and enjoy the great food, whiskey and people!!! You will not be disappointed!

I love the whisky and this was one of the best distillery tours and tastings I went to (of about 12). The staff was super friendly and knowledgeable. The lunch at he kiln cafe was tasty. Superb selection of whiskies at the tasting, not to mention generous drams! Highly recommend this one.

What a handsome spot. Lovely tour and oddly pretty tasty food at their cafe (I dream still of the scones I had there). Afterwards enjoy the great views down by the water. It is a lovely spot and even more so if you are enjoying a dram of the smokiest scotch ever! Oh, RIP to Shortie.

Lovely open property in beautiful setting The setting alone makes a visit here a pleasant experience. Its feel is more open and expansive than many distilleries. This is one of the triumverate of venerable neighboring distilleries, all celebrating 200 years but each almost certainly a center for spirits for many years before the official founding. Whether you love peated whisky or industrial tours or beautiful settings, this is worth a visit. If you are staying in Port Ellen you can easily walk or bicycle out and make a day of it.

If you are going out of your way to get to Islay, Scotland then chances are you are there for the peaty whiskey. And in that case, you should not miss Ardbeg. Their tour is not particularly good BUT we really enjoyed the café...and you can sit right down and order food and get a whiskey flight with it...which is what I recommend instead of the tour, if you are a whiskey drinker. I myself am a companion to a whiskey afficionado and not much of a whiskey drinker. The meat in the burger, which the waitress claimed was just 'regular hamburger' may have been the tastiest I ever had. The walk out to Ardbeg from Port Ellen is beautiful, even though some of it was in the rain. The café at Ardbeg was one of only three Port Ellen restaurants open when we visited.

One of the more eclectic tours on the island. Everything seems old and traditional. The tour guide gave us a private tour and took us into a tasting room where she let us sample a ton of great drams. The Distillery has an incredible cafe with some of the best food on the island. The island as a whole is like stepping back in time to 1978. Everything from restaurants to hotels is old. It was genuinely nice to eat at ARDBEG as the cafe was modern and more comfortable. Could not recommend this enough.

"Wee Emma" conducted our ArdBig tour and we have to say it was the best we have experienced thus far. She was funny, super knowledgeable and very generous we got to try some very very special releases and whisky direct from the barrels. The distillery - is very true to its origins and very open about the process. Caffe - the food is superb and very affordable so arrive early to get some before you start tasting. Bar - whisky is very inexpensive and needless to say it's Ardbeg good. Overall it's a must if you are on Islay.

This is the last in a line of malt whisky distilleries on the same road out of Port Ellen. It has to be said, however, that it is the best tour! Many people travel, each sunday, from the northern coast of Ireland (Antrim) to Islay just to come to Ardbeg Distillery for their Sunday Lunch; The on-site restaurant is that good! The tour of the distillery is fascinating, even to those of us who have seen many distillery tours and think we know it all. The tour guides are superb, Pauline in particular - a wonderful island girl who knows more about whisky distilling than I could ever hope to. At the end of our tour, we had a table full of the various Ardbeg products, surrounded by many more gift items and bottles. The table was for a wee dram as a sample. Pauline was called to help in the restaurant and, as she had been drinking (beer) with us the night before, told the others in the group to ask my advice of which malt to try! This resulting in some german visitors enjoying unusual whisky - one of the bottles was Ardbeg Committee (the original one!) Usually listed at around £120 a shot or so. Please don't expect this if you go there now! The whiskies from Ardbeg can only be described as peaty with a tang of the sea. They are all smokey, but with a huge variety of smoothness usually depending upon the length in the barrel and which wood the barrel is made of.

We toured all 9 of the distilleries on Islay and this is one of my top three. Our guide Dion (sp) was delightful and extremely knowledgeable on all the aspect of the process. Following the expansive tour Dion took us to the cast storage area where we got to sample four lovely drams. Then, to top it off, since it was a nice day she grabbed a rare and out of production Supernova (highly peated) and we went up on the bluff overlooking the sea and had another dram.

On a recent holiday to Islay we visited a number of distilleries. I was a big fan of the 10 year Ardbeg whisky and was looking forward to the tour. I have to say that all for of us were utterly disappointed. The tour was quite boring, you didn't get to see half the stuff and the tour guide looked she had sucked a lemon before the tour. The whisky prices in the shop were nearly £10 more expensive than you can buy them in your local supermarket and unlike the other distilleries that gave you your money back if you bought something from their shop, Arbeg gave you some of the money back but added it on the shop prices! We also ate at the cafe which was fairly expensive for the quality of food it provided. One last nark is the fact that the first tour finishes at 11.30 but they don't serve food until 12 in the cafe so you have to hang about for 30 mins in a badly lit, over priced shop. It's put me off drinking Ardbeg now..

We stayed at the sea view cottage. It was an amazing experience. I would highly recommend it if you are staying on Islay. The whiskey is amazing and the tour is fantastic. I wish we stayed longer, that is the only downfall.

Very much enjoyed having lunch here. Food was a little pricey but very good. Also great that you can do table tastings, though would have loved a little more explanation with the drams. Definitely recommend doing lunch here if you are doing any of the three distilleries near Port Ellen.