There have been distilleries at Lagavulin since the 18th century; though it wasn’t until 1816 that farmer John Johnston founded the first legal operation. A year later a second distillery appeared, this one run by Archibald Campbell. The two were united under a Glasgow trader, and in 1887, Peter Mackie arrived at the distillery, under whose guiding hand the distillery, and the name Lagavulin, was to become the last word in Islay malt.