Laphroaig, is a Gaelic term meaning 'the beautiful hollow over the wide valley', or Islay, the motherland of peaty Scotch whisky, whose velvety smoky sensation contributes to its uniqueness. The distillery was founded in 1815 and despite its centuries-long history and multiple changes of ownership, the Laphroaigh distillery has never abandoned the traditional production system. In fact, it is one of the few Scottish distilleries that produces part of its own malted barley on the floor and is the only one that still extracts the peat by hand, without "squeezing" it with the use of machinery, but preserving it with all its precious vegetable oils. Water also plays a leading role: rainwater filters through layers of peat until it finds the hard rock. This natural process makes it a unique and essential ingredient. As far as distillation is concerned, there is a battery of no less than seven stills in the plant, three wash stills for the first distillation, and four spirit stills for the second. This forces the distillery manager to put the newly obtained distillate into a blending tank to keep its character constant. Former bourbon casks, Maker's Mark and Jim Beam, and Quarter Cask are used for ageing. Once the cask ageing is complete, the product is brought to the optimum strength for bottling.
