Lagg Distillery - The Scottish Backpack

Transport

Bus: Edinburgh – Glasgow (1hr 30), Train: Glasgow Central – Troon (40 mins), Ferry: Troon – Brodick (75 mins), Bus: Brodick – Lagg (50 mins).

Sample Itinerary

04:40 – 06:12: Bus (Citylink: Glasgow): Edinburgh North David St – Glasgow Bus Station
07:30 – 08:10: Train (Scotrail: Ayr): Glasgow Central – Troon
08:10 – 08:35: Walk: Troon Railway Station – Troon Ferry Port (Arran House)
09:15 – 10:30: Ferry (CalMac): Troon – Brodick
10:55 – 11:50: Bus (Stagecoach: 323 Blackwaterfoot): Brodick harbour – Lagg Distillery
13:00 – 14:15: Lagg Whisky Experience Tour
15:11 – 16:17: Lagg – Brodick Harbour
17:20 – 18:35: Ferry (Calmac) Brodick – Troon
19:16 – 19:56: Train (ScotRail: Glasgow) Troon – Glasgow Central
20:30 – 21:30: Bus (CityLink: Edinburgh) Glasgow Bus Station – Edinburgh Bus Station

Note: It is also possible to get the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow instead of the bus. The 6 a.m. train would get you into Glasgow early enough to connect to Troon, but this is more expensive. The bus was £10 return for an open return (only able to be bought on board as online you have to buy a fixed time ticket), compared with £32 for an Anytime Day return, which would be required as it involves travel at 6am which is a peak time.

Getting to Lagg Distillery

There are two ports connecting mainland Scotland to Arran (Ardrossan and Troon), but due to ongoing ferry issues, only Troon was operating during my visit. I set off at 4.40 am to catch the CityLink bus to Glasgow, which, due to the early time, left from North St David Street instead of the bus station. The train to Troon leaves from Glasgow Central, so I had to walk from the bus station to the station, but it is only a ten-minute walk, and I had time to get a McDonald’s breakfast on the way! The train to Troon does not take long, and on arrival in Troon is just a 20-minute walk from the station to the Ferry port, which is at Arran House. I did notice there was also a free shuttle bus running from the station to the port, picking up just downhill under the railway bridge. I opted to walk as the times for the shuttle bus were not listed on the day I was travelling, as it happened to be the day on which the summer timetable was coming into operation!

The ferry departed on time, and the 90-minute crossing to Brodick was smooth and scenic. Once in Brodick, it’s just a short walk to the main bus stop where you can catch a bus service heading either north or south of the island. Slightly confusingly, both routes have the same final destination of Blackwaterfoot, and they leave around the same time from adjoining stances! I was heading south to Lagg, and so I took the 323, which leaves from stance three. The journey took just under an hour. Although the official stop is at The Ross, just past the distillery, the driver kindly let me off right outside since I mentioned I was visiting the distillery. There is a platform outside the distillery which looks like an unofficial bus stop, which I think might just be available as a request stop.

Distillery Facilities

Lagg’s visitor centre is impressively modern; it only opened in 2019 and still feels fresh, and it is well-designed. Upon entering, you check in at the central reception area, and there is then a spacious café to the rear serving food and drinks. To the right is a well-stocked shop full of Lagg-branded merchandise and a “pour your own cask” station, where you can bottle your own Lagg in 20cl or 70cl (see below).

A staircase beside the shop leads to the upstairs bar, which offers sweeping views of Ailsa Craig and they have the full Lagg whisky range available to buy (including some previous bottle your own casks which are not available anywhere else). There’s also a tasting counter at the bar where you can sample all the main Lagg expressions, and the staff are happy to tell you about them. I popped into the bar to kill an hour before my tour, and ended up getting to sample six different Lagg whiskies, as part of an informal mini-tasting. Lagg whiskies are heavily peated (50ppm), though some batches felt smokier than others. My standout was Batch One (sadly no longer available), but the “pour your own” PX sherry-finished bottle was also exceptional; it is the oldest single malt that Lagg offers at 5 years and 11 months old, and bursting with character.

Distillery Tour & Tasting

I opted for the standard tour, which lasts just over an hour and covers Lagg’s history, production process, and the island’s roots in illicit distilling. The tour was quite good; I mean you go through all the usual basics, but I was interested in the peat getting used in Lagg, which comes from Aberdeen, and the coastal version of peat is quite different from the Islay peat, which is why their peated expressions have a different taste to the more medicinal Islay peat expressions. Interestingly, even with Lagg’s high peat content, the flavour is softer and less intense than Islay whiskies. During the tour, I also sampled the new make spirit, which is quite a rare treat, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the taste as it was smooth and quite mellow, lacking the harsh burn you often find in other new makes. If this is anything to go by, the aged releases will be very promising.

Lagg is a small-scale operation with around 700k litres being produced each year, and this is reflected in the modest size production area. The production room houses the washbacks, mash tun, and two stills, and you can tell it’s a new distillery as everything looks in immaculate condition. The room also had a wall with plaques from private cask owners who helped fund the distillery’s early stages. Unlike many new distilleries, Lagg didn’t rely on gin or other spirits while waiting for their whisky to mature, but used sales from private casks to fund the distillery. Another source of revenue will come from Cider, as at Lagg they also have an on-site orchard with thousands of trees for cider production, which is available to buy in the shop.

The tour concluded with a tasting of two core range whiskies, one bourbon-matured and one sherry-finished. I preferred the latter, as the mix of peat and sherry worked beautifully together. The pours on the tour were generous, letting you get a proper taste of Lagg. I also got to keep the tasting glass and received a £15 voucher redeemable against selected bottles in the shop. In the end, I chose the “fill your own” PX cask bottle I’d sampled earlier, which cost £70, which I thought was a fair price for the oldest whisky on offer, and getting to fill the bottle myself was a fun bonus.

Overall, there is a lot to like about Lagg, the location is beautiful on the south of Arran and everyone I seemed to meet was passionate about the whisky and sharing the whisky with visitors. They are not afraid to experiment with different flavours using a variety of casks, and it will be interesting to see what they produce in the future.

Summary

Travel: Bus + Train + Walk + Ferry + Bus
Outbound Journey Time from Edinburgh: 4hr 45 minutes
Tour Price: £20
Duration: 75 mins
Drams: 3