Elixir Distillers, has today confirmed the name of their new
Islay distillery. The news comes ahead of the 2022 Fèis Ìle; the annual
festival of whisky and music on Islay, which will be held in person for the
first time since 2019, between May 27th and June 4th.
Located just outside the town of Port Ellen on Islay’s south
coast on the way to Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg distilleries, the new Portintruan
distillery (pronounced Port-nah-truan) is said to be where the past will meet the future,
combining old-style production techniques with modern technology to improve
process, quality and sustainability.
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| Plans of the new Portintruan Distillery |
Elixir Distillers will be adding an experimental distillery within the site - so it will be two distilleries in one. This will enable the team to produce not only different Scotch whisky styles but also rum.
Plans for the distillery site also include 14 houses for
Islay families working at the distillery, a visitor’s centre, a bar and restaurant,
tasting room bothy overlooking the sea and a multi-purpose educational facility
which will serve as a base for an apprentice programme to train the next
generation of distillers.
Commenting on the news, Sukhinder Singh, Co-Founder of
Elixir Distillers, said: “Elixir Distillers has always taken a flavour[1]led approach and this
will be the Portintruan philosophy as well. We will be utilising a number of
old-style production techniques which we believe will accentuate the depth and
character of the spirit. A key part ofthe process will be using malt
predominantly from our own floor maltings on-site, and we will be using direct-fired
wash stills for the distillation. We plan to work with different phenol levels
across the range, which will all have their own specific flavour profiles.”
The new Portintruan distillery, is due to be complete and expected
to start distilling in early 2024.
Posted by Steve Rush