Fàilte gu Acadamaidh Uisge-beatha Ìle
Welcome to Islay Whisky Academy

"Sharing the Spirit of Scotland"

… dreaming of a trip to Islay… ? Are you mesmerised when smelling a peated whisky, or by a notion to find your Scottish connections? Answer these calls! Join us in October for the Islay Whisky Academy Residential Diploma Week

 

 

 

 

 

 

AN INTERESTING, UNUSUAL ISLAY WHISKY/WHISKEY TOUR WEEK 

Previous guests & students describe it as

A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE

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Practical and theoretical  experiences let you see how Scotch whisky is made.   Heritage and history are still alive in Islay.  Become part of the Scottish Kinship when you book onto the Islay Whisky Academy Residential  DIPLOMA or Tour. 

Discovering and  learning, you’ll  feel a sense of belonging in Islay, amongst fellow whisky-lovers and distillers.

This comprehensive Trip to Islay and her distilleries has many layers. You’ll be cutting peats on the peat moss, shovelling  green malt in the malt barns, DRINKING WHISKY / WHISKEY IN AN OLD WAREHOUSE BY THE SHORE

Hear from the bold, beautiful and best in the industry!

Our Tutors and presenters are so knowledgeable, so full of real information and good craic to boot! 

You will be LEARNING & LAUGHING  at the same time…

Enjoy the scenery, watch geese on Loch Indaal, catch a glimpse of a stag, or a seal. Hear an owl hooting when you have a dram in the garden. 

 Make friends not contacts. Fall in love with the island and the adventures you are going to have at  Islay Whisky Academy.

Our comprehensive theoretical, practical and cultural courses, lectures and tastings are underpinned by captivating technical information, imparted in unique, illuminating and meaningful ways.

You are a Scotch Whisky Adventurer.  BOOK NOW to experience Islay and whisky/whiskey like never before.

Click here to Book UP for IWA DIPLOMA WHISKY TOUR WEEK
Includes TWO FREE Nights - Sunday at start of week, Friday at end so you can attend our High Calibre Scotch Whisky / Whiskey Graduation Dinner

The latest Islay Whisky Academy Residential Diploma has wrapped. It doesn’t quite seem real. Those six days spent on the whisky isle felt like a whirlwind. A hurricane of information and experience, of new friendships and new perspectives and of whiskies so good, you could spend a lifetime trying to describe them.

Ode to the Islay Whisky Academy - Neill Murphy
Click to read FULL ARTICLE

Residential Diploma October 2025

Mon 27 - Fri 31 October 2025 ~ Includes Sun 26 & Fri 31 nights for FREE

CLICK HERE TO BOOK OCTOBER 2025
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BLAS / BLOG

What is so special about IWA DIPLOMA week?

June 18, 2025

WATER – thinking about the Water Table and how much water can be extracted by you – but in good relationship to the requirements of other beings around.

POWER – how much electrical power is required to run your plant, your distillery? How can this be generated? Have you designed your building in such a way that it requires very little power to run it, or is this something you have not even considered.

Have you considered that “resources” are no such a thing – that they are actually Gifts from Nature, and we should be grateful for every drop of water and Robin feather that comes our way.

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Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2014 Tasting Notes

August 19, 2024

Damp green vegetal barley, like in the malt barns when the floors are first laid down with grain. 
White nougat. Lovely tingle into the nose.   The essence of warm sand dunes. And the sweet fleeting aroma of white candy floss.   Honey and ripe bananas.

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Your Journey of Discovery Starts Here

BUY WHISKY AFFINITY © online course

Courting the Dram online course  from WHISKY  AFFINITY ©

Improve your Nosing and Tasting abilities. Find out how the geology of Islay influences the taste and production process of our whisky. 

Learn why Scotch whisky and Pipetunes have so much in common. 

Find out the difference between Orthonasal olfaction and Retro nasal olfaction… 

EXPAND YOUR WHISKY THINKING AND UNDERSTANDING with Courting the Dram online course.

Providing online, residential, day and half-day courses, Islay Whisky Academy opens your whisky mind.

Enjoying fascinating insights you begin to  interpret heritage and history, and the ways that music, literature and language weave into a dram’s unfolding story, 

Become part of the Islay Whisky Academy Kinship and appreciate whisky in an expansive, supportive environment.

A Precious Environment

When you learn more and start connecting on an elemental level with what you’re drinking, you recognise how weather, trees, minerals, animals, people and place are all intrinsically part of whisky, its history and its evolvement.

When we begin to understand the generosity embedded in the environment of whisky, we are filled with a sense of gratitude and care for our planet. This underpins all of the Academy’s values. 

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