It’s this sort of news that we’ve been hearing quite a few times those past 2 years. “XX Whisky Corp. to open a distillery on the all-mighty whisky island!” “Breaking News: Islay gets 9th whisky distillery!”, “Peat freaks, you’ll be drinking some new Islay whiskies in a few years!”… After Ardnahoe (currently under construction) and Gartbreck (well… is it really going to take shape one day after all those years of “one step forward/2 steps backward” or will the project be abandoned? Debate is open!)

Anyway, I’ve recently received a press release from the team at Elixir Distillers confirming their intention to add a new distillery to the Islay whisky landscape. The more the merrier, right ?

“At a public consultation held at Ramsay Hall in Port Ellen, Islay, yesterday evening, Sukhinder Singh, co-founder of Elixir Distillers, confirmed intentions for the company to build a new distillery on Islay.

Having secured a piece of land on the water’s edge near Port Ellen on Islay’s south coast, a planning application will soon be submitted following the public consultation. The current intention is to begin building early 2019 and begin distilling in 2020, as long as planning permission is granted.

Singh explains: “Some of the world’s most amazing drams come from Islay. Their unique style combined with the special character of the island meant there was never any question that we wouldn’t choose Islay to build our distillery. As soon as I saw the distillery site I fell in love with it. It’s on the holy grail of whisky roads, passing Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg distilleries on the way to Kildalton Cross. Plus it’s in the town of Port Ellen, which as a collector of Port Ellen single malt, has a special meaning. It was just too good to resist.”

The more the merrier, right ?