Ailsa Bay whisky – Lowland

Ailsa Bay distillery information

The Ailsa Bay distillery is one of the newer distilleries in Scotland, and opened its doors in 2007 after a mere 9 months of construction. It’s owned by William Grant and Sons, and the distillery is located in the western part of the Lowlands on the outskirts of the city of Girvan. In fact, it is built on the same site as the existing Girvan Grain whisky distillery, which is also owned by William Grant. This allowed Grant easy access to the existing facilities, which includes a cooperage for repairing casks, as well as the distillers already employed at the site.

Originally, the site was constructed with 12 washbacks and 8 stills (4 wash, 4 spirit). In 2013, another 12 washbacks and 8 stills were added, thus increasing the yearly output from the original 5 million liters per annum to 10 million.

Ailsa Bay takes its name from “Ailsa Craig”, the island lying approximately halfway in the channel between Ireland and Scotland.

The great majority (and perhaps even all) of the produce made at Ailsa Bay is intended to be used in the blends produced by Grant. The style of whisky they intend to produce at Aisla Bay is Speyside-like, similar to Balvenie (which is also owned by Grant), and the Ailsa Bay stills are modeled after the Balvenie stills to achieve this. However, I still have hopes that there might yet be some Ailsa Bay whisky released, as Grant are not against experimenting and doing some unusual releases.

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Ailsa Bay Distillery
Girvan
Ayrshire
KA26 9PT

+(44) 1465 713091

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