Ardnahoe Distillery

Bun na h-Abhainne means "mouth of the river" and the distillery came first in 1881, then the village was built to house the workers. Until the 1960s you could only get in and out by boat, then the road was made from Port Askaig. The whisky is light and unpeated; the place is now owned by Highland Distillers. Tours of the production area remain suspended, but they still offer tastings.

Caol Ila means the Straits of Islay that the distillery overlooks, the channel separating Jura. It was founded in 1846 but had a chequered commercial history.The present distillery has operated since 1974 and is owned by Diageo, but is closed for reconstruction.

Loch Finlaggan is a freshwater lake. At its north end are two islands which in the 13th-15th centuries were the seat of the Lord of the Isles, until rule passed to the King of Scotland. A visitor centre displays various artefacts of that era. A bridge links to Eilean Mòr ("the Big Island"), which can always be accessed even when the centre is closed. Here the main ruin is the castle (simply a fortified house), plus a medieval chapel and 16th-century graves. You can't routinely visit Eilean na Comhairle ("the Council Island"), which has the fragmentary remains of the Lords' council chambers.

This is a sea loch; at its head are the Gruinart Flats wetland, an RSPB reserve. Great masses of barnacle geese roost here in winter; look out also for corncrakes, hen harriers and otters. The reserve is always open. There are two trails, the Woodland Trail (a mile) and the Moorland Trail (2 miles). You can cycle from Uiskentuie (on the A847) along the B8017 to the visitor centre, and then north to Ardnave, 7 miles each way.

This was founded in 1779 to become perhaps the only scotch whisky distillery to be owned by a German vice-consul to the Ottoman Empire. Herr Mutter even built a steamship to import grain and export the whisky. Anti-German sentiment finished off the business in 1915; it had a series of owners and spells of production before joining Beam Suntory in 1994. The product is shipped to Glasgow for bottling. Their 12-year old single malt is smoky and peaty, sweet with a citrus tang, but doesn't have the seaweed / iodine notes typical of Islay whisky.

Bruthach a' Chladaich means "Brae of the Shore" and the distillery was founded by Loch Indaal in 1881. It was state-of-the-art for its time, with unusually tall narrow stills. It had stop-start production in the 20th century so it was never modernised, and the original equipment was restored from 2013 under the ownership of Rémy Cointreau. Those whiskies marketed as Bruichladdich are unpeated, those as Port Charlotte are peated, and Octomore is heavily peated. They also produce gin.