Laphroaig

When Hunter died in 1954, he left her the distillery business, his house Ardenistiel and the island of Texa.^1,3,4 Like the other Islay distilleries, Laphroaig mostly made single malt for the large blending houses on the mainland.^11,13 In 1962, Williamson sold a third of her shares to Seager Evans & Company to raise money to modernise production and add warehouses.^12,13,14 Seager Evans completed the purchase in 1967, and Williamson stayed on to run D. Johnston & Company.^1,4,13 One account says she sold the last shares in 1972 instead.^1,4,13 In 1967, a new still house took the distillery from 4 stills to 5 and brought in steam heating instead of direct coal firing.^4,7,11 When Williamson retired in 1972, the distillery had 7 stills.^4,6,7

In 1975, brewer Whitbread & Co. bought Seager Evans, the distillery's owner.^4,12,14 In 1989, Whitbread sold its spirits business, including Laphroaig, to Allied Distillers.^3,4,14 In 1994, Prince Charles visited the distillery and gave it his Royal Warrant.^1,3,4 That year, distillery manager Iain Henderson set up Friends of Laphroaig, whose members lease a square foot of the island.^1,3 Fortune Brands took over in 2005, after Pernod Ricard sold the brand to win approval for its takeover of Allied Domecq.

Barry MacAffer, an Islay native who joined Laphroaig in 2011, became distillery manager in March 2022.^1,3,15 On 30 April 2024, owner Beam Suntory changed its name to Suntory Global Spirits.¹⁶ In June 2024, Suntory Global Spirits applied to grow the distillery from 7 stills to 11, add 12 washbacks and a mash house, and restore the old maltings building.^17,18,19 That building then housed the visitor centre, and Suntory later said the plans were still under development.^17,18,19 George Campbell, who began his career as a tour guide at Laphroaig, took over as manager in 2024.

It malts 20% of what it needs on its own floors, using peat cut from a bog at Glen Machrie, and buys the rest from maltsters such as Port Ellen.^4,5,6 Its malt is peated to a minimum of 35ppm phenols, the smoky compounds that the damp barley absorbs from peat smoke.^4,5 Its kilns burn peat at a low temperature to cold-smoke the barley, which the distillery says gives Laphroaig its tarry note.^4,5 Its water comes from the Kilbride Stream.^1,3,5 It has 6 stainless steel washbacks, the tanks where fermentation turns sugar into alcohol.^4,6 Fermentation lasts two or so days.