Islay is back on stage: from 11 to 13 September 2026 the Caol Ila Islay Jazz Festival marks its 28th edition, with concerts in distilleries, village halls and churches across the island. Caol Ila is headline sponsor for the second year and has released The Drummer for the occasion, a 19 year old at 52% for £275, the second bottle in the trilogy The Guitarist opened in 2025.
The programme
It opens on Friday 11 at the Caol Ila brand home, looking out over the Sound of Islay: at 6.45pm guitarist Graeme Stephen premieres ORWELL, inspired by 1984 and the years its author spent writing it on neighbouring Jura, and at 9pm saxophonist Laura Macdonald debuts Islands, a suite written about the Scottish islands. On Saturday 12 pianist Fergus McCreadie plays Rhinns Hall, while Lagavulin hosts two evening concerts that are already sold out. Sunday 13 closes with the Kimberley Tessa Duo at Laphroaig, the jam session with the Islay Jazz Festival Quartet at Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle and the Kilner/Eisenhauer Electric Band at Bruichladdich Hall. Other venues include the Round Church in Bowmore and the RSPB centre.
Caol Ila The Drummer
After The Guitarist, an 18 year old finished in Scottish oak, the 2026 bottle takes a different route and stays entirely in American oak: three stages, the last in ex-Bulleit bourbon casks. The result, the distillery says, is an unusually sweet and spicy Caol Ila, with the house’s light smoke underneath. It is on sale only at the distillery from 7 September 2026, at £275. Emma Watson, brand home manager: “Jazz embodies experimentation, boldness and the perfect blending of styles, quite like our new festival release.”
Tastings at the distillery
For the weekend Caol Ila offers two festival-only experiences: Spirit of Smoke, a tasting of five distillery-exclusive whiskies drawn straight from the cask in the maturation warehouse, and a pairing with the artisanal chocolates of Islay Cocoa, Emma Goudie’s workshop. Both can be booked on the distillery website, and the full festival programme is on Jazz Scotland. In 2025, Caol Ila’s first year as sponsor after the Lagavulin era, the festival ran from 19 to 21 September.
