Lots of exciting things from Islay. Of course the island recently celebrated Feis Ile, the annual whisky and music festival, and the occasion of many sought-after special bottlings.

Just in time for this year’s festival, the island’s newest distillery–Ardnahoe, near Port Askaig–released its inaugural bottling. The distillery is owned by indie bottler Hunter Laing, and somewhat usually, waited until the whisky was 5 years old (rather than the bare minimum 3) to release its whisky. It was also an unusually large release for an inaugural bottling, so you can still find it from select online retailers.

Ardnahoe is the first of a small wave of new distilleries sprouting up on Islay; the long silent Port Ellen finally began distilling again this spring, and there are several other new projects in various stages of development, as well.

Elixir Distillers (run by former Whisky Exchange impressario Sukhinder Singh) is building Portintruan, also near the town of Port Ellen. It’s expected to come online later this year.

Another distillery, Laggan Bay, is in the works and expected to begin production sometime in 2025, although additional details are scarce, beyond the involvement of Ian MacCleod Distillers, an indie bottler and owner of Glengoyne, Tamdhu, and Rosebank.

Finally, Chivas Bros, the second largest player in the industry, is finally getting into the Islay market with their own new build, although there is little more information than that.

Further from Islay, lovers of Laphroaig’s distinctive smoky and medicinal whisky have cause to rejoice, as Spirits Business reports that the distillery plans to expand capacity.

Elsewhere in Scotland, the tiny Highland distillery of Strathearn released its first bottling under the ownership of indie bottler Douglas Laing in April. The previous owners had released some highly limited bottlings when the whisky first reached maturity.

It’s becoming increasingly hard to keep track of what’s happening with new releases and new and planned distilleries. Spirits Business reports several new projects: in the Highlands, at Inverary, in the Shetland Islands, in the Outer Hebrides, and even on Speyside.