The Old Lagg Distillery

26 Sep 2025

Long before we opened our doors in 2019, there was another distillery named Lagg here on Arran. In fact, it was just a mile away from where we are now. 

It’s where we get our namesake. And while there are many differences between us and the original Lagg, there’s a lot that binds us together. We like to think we’re carrying the torch, and reigniting a long-lost history of “Arran Water” in the south end. 

The old Lagg Distillery was one of the three legal distilleries that once existed on Arran. There was Lagg, one in Lamlash and one in Brodick. The distillery operated on and off from around 1825 to 1840. When it distilled its last spirit, it brought an end to legal whisky making on Arran for over 150 years.

Old Lagg Distillery

Who was behind the original Lagg Distillery?

The distillery was set up as a co-operative between three prominent locals: Captain Charles McAlister Shannon, Matthew Spiers, and John McKinnon. Captain Shannon was the tenant of Bennecarrigan Farm and Mr Spiers of Clachaig Farm (the two largest farms in the southend). Both farms are on opposite sides of us. And Mr McKinnon was the landlord at the local inn, which is now the Lagg Hotel.

The distillery was essentially an extension of their businesses. The farmers had an abundance of barley, and whisky was a resourceful way of using it up. It was a golden opportunity to make more money from their crops.

How did the old Lagg distillers make their whisky?

The original Lagg was quite a small operation built into a former corn mill and had two stills. These were about three times the size of the typical illicit stills used by whisky smugglers at the time. The malt was stored in a grain barn just opposite Clachaig Farm, which is still there, and you can pass it driving on the road towards us. On average, they’d use around 1.5 tonnes of malt a week. There was a water-powered mill, a wooden mash tun and a single washback. 

During the first year of production, the distillery produced just under 22,000L of whisky and would eventually peak in 1833 at just under 26,000L. To compare, we made around 500,000L in our first year of distilling. 

Arrans Illicit Distillers

Why did the old Lagg Distillery close down?

There are a number of reasons why Lagg couldn’t survive—competition, an increase in taxes and a downturn in the Scottish economy. Each one, a blow to the underfunded distillery. 

Over in the mainland, there was a demand for quantity that Arran’s distilleries couldn’t compete with. By the time Lagg closed, over 27 new distilleries had been built just across the water in Campbeltown, the largest of which was making 100,000L a year—well over four times what Lagg did at its height. The Campbeltown distilleries had the benefit of a direct access to a harbour. On Islay, the distilleries were built right by the coast. But Arran’s first pier wasn’t built until 1872 in Brodick (32 years after Lagg closed). The infrastructure simply didn’t exist to support a distillery.

The old Lagg was also plagued by financial issues throughout its existence and within a couple of years, Captain Shannon was in trouble with the estate for failing to pay his rents. Facing serious debts, he emigrated to Australia, where he later died. After he left, the distillery was run solely by Matthew Spiers’ sons, until it eventually closed in 1840.

Was that the end of whisky on Arran?

Thankfully, the story doesn’t end there. While Lagg was the last legal distillery on Arran for a long time, it wasn’t the island’s last distillery. All across Arran, especially here in the south, local farmers made their own whisky in illicit stills, smuggling it over to the mainland. This continued for many years, but eventually died out as well. 

In 1995, things changed. On a bright August day, Arran saw its first legal spirit for over 150 years. Lochranza Distillery was the rebirth of the island’s whisky industry—a new chapter in a rich heritage that spans generations. 

Lochranza Distillery 1995

But it didn’t end there. In 2019, our distillery, Lagg opened its doors. Since then, we’ve released our core range, opened our visitor centre and scooped up the award for Distillery of the Year in 2023. 

I would love to say that we based the spirit profile of Lagg on the original 1840s recipe, but we were able to make some educated guesses. The whisky being heavily peated is a callback as peat was likely heavily used in the process as an abundant heat source and the more heavy, oily and grassy nature of the Lagg spirit gives the impression of the whisky more common in rural Scotland. We took these blueprint ideas and ran with it. What came out of the new Lagg stills was exactly what we were looking for.

— Graham Omand, our Distillery Manager

Arran has long had a reputation for outstanding whisky. Our very existence is an ode to the people who set the foundation for future generations of whisky-makers to flourish. We raise a glass to them. 

Learn more about Arran’s historic distillers (both legal and illegal) on our “Arran Water: Tours, Tales and Drams” experience. 

Lagg Distillery on the Isle of Arran, Distillery of the Year 2023