Milestones

We refurbished an old warehouse into an on-site bottling hall. From 2003, we’ve done all of our single malt bottlings on the island, with nothing exported to the Scottish Mainland. Today our bottling lines and supply chain functions employ 26 people full time.

We ignited an Islay barley project with Raymond Stewart. He was the first of our farming partners to raise malting barley on Islay in living memory. He would pave the way for 20 others to join him by 2020.

Bruichladdich Distillery wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise

Biodynamic barley first distilled from Yatesbury House Farm near Wiltshire.

Circulation system installed, using wastewater from the stills to heat distillery offices, bottling hall and visitor centre.

The Botanist Foundation is established by then-CEO Simon Coughlin, now-CEO Douglas Taylor, our late Head of Communications Carl Reavey and original botanists Richard and Mavis Gulliver. The Foundation would go on to support the RSPB on Islay, the Nature of Scotland awards, wildflower, biodiversity & pollinator initiatives and funding for a PHD student to explore conservation of Scottish juniper.

From 2017 to 2018, we’d plant ~7,500 trees in partnership with The Woodland Trust.

We would start to install LED lights, Passive Infrared Sensors (PIR) sensors in all new builds, phasing across our sites as ongoing maintenance takes place, and installing power inverters to reduce energy consumption across pumps and motors.

Between 2018 and 2019, we completed 539 hours of volunteer work for our local community during work hours

Through an ongoing collaboration with the James Hutton Institute and the UHI Agronomy Institute, we planted 6 varieties of barley (and 27 of wheat) into small plots on our croft. Many were heritage or hybrid varieties designed to test their suitability for growing on the wet, west coast. Hybrid varieties are designed to combine the benefits of conventional varieties such as disease resistance and yield, with characteristics of some heritage varieties such as flavour or long straw. These characteristics are not exclusive to modern or heritage varieties respectively, but hybrids that are bred and tested in local conditions is one of the exciting opportunities we have to develop more sustainable growing in the future. The expertise of these partners will be essential to us testing varieties not currently on the recommended growing list.

We have donated and supported the Islay Community Footpath project which will link the villages of Bruichladdich and Port Charlotte. We have also donated on an ongoing basis to local charitable organisations across art, music and sport.

From 1st May, 100% of the distillery’s electricity is sourced renewably in the UK.

In May, we became the first whisky and gin distillery in Europe to become certified B Corporation.

This year, 50% of our annual barley requirements were grown on Islay across 21 individual farms last year. Bruichladdich is able to trace and taste local barley, grown in close proximity to the distillery while our farming partners are able to share in our island’s booming industry and diversify their farming income.

In February, we’ve made the outer tin optional across our entire single malts range, on our online shop and in our distillery visitor centre. You can now choose to make the world of whisky one tin lighter.