Celebrating 30 Years of Friendship

Pouring Laphroaig Islay single malt scotch whisky

Back in 1994, Iain Henderson – our then distillery manager – had an idea.  This idea was to bring together Laphroaig lovers and show them some love back.  What he didn’t know, is that this idea was to become one of the world’s biggest and best whisky communities, which is now 30 years old.

Over the years, we’ve always recognised how fortunate we are to have our Friends – now from over 180 countries around the world - as our very own community of peat enthusiasts.  What has remained the same is that we don’t make friends easily, but when we do, they are for life.

planting a flag at friends of Laphroaig plot

New and improved

Being a Friend, and a member of our family, means we want to make sure we look after you by ensuring you’re the first to know about everything happening at Laphroaig, from new whisky releases to distillery news and upcoming events.  And with our exclusive Friends of Laphroaig website we can bring you all together to play your part in our community, and importantly where you can boost your points and reap the rewards.

Simply by signing up, you get access to a range of experiences like our Laphroaig Live virtual events, as well as access to buy our annual Cairdeas release on Laphroaig.com, regular newsletters direct from the distillery (be sure to opt-in!), and your very own square foot plot on Islay (with bottle purchase or distillery tour).

Today as we enter our 30th year of Friends of Laphroaig, we firstly want to thank everyone for coming along on the ride with us and make sure we don't stand still by continuing to make things better for you all. So, we’ve spent some time listening to our Friends’ feedback and thoughts on what it means to be part of this amazing community and are excited to share with you some enhancements to make sure we’re doing our best for our Friends.

The biggest change you will see is that we've removed Peat, Smoke, and Oak levels to make things easier and simpler but also to make sure we are adding value to the experience we can offer. This new approach means:

It is now much easier to earn points, and importantly making a purchase is only one of the many ways you can now earn them. There are now even more ways to earn points like taking part in regular polls, surveys, and quizzes, as well as points for distillery visits and referring a friend.
 

Rewards will now be unlocked one at a time rather than as multiple rewards, but Friends may still unlock more at once if you earn the required number of points.
 

Points expire on a rolling, 12-month basis so be sure to keep a track of your points balance.
 

When a reward is unlocked, you can either redeem or learn more about the reward in the Friends of Laphroaig section of the website.  We will send you an email letting you know you have unlocked a new reward with more information.

Alongside this, we’ve made sure to add new rewards and have increased the frequency of others to ensure we are delivering value to our Friends.

 

The new look rewards include:
 

Monthly sweepstakes (50 points) – each month we will offer Friends a must have prize shared by email and accessed through the Sweepstakes Rewards tile on the website.
 

Upgraded rent (150 points) – a must for any Friend’s next visit to Islay, simply download your “Upgraded Rent” certificate from within your Friends of Laphroaig account within 30 days of your visit to claim from our Visitor’s Centre. Slàinte!
 

Free engraving on Laphroaig.com (250 points) – Friends can add a special touch with free engraving when buying on Laphroaig.com. (Reward available to Friends in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom.)
 

Early access (350 points) - Friends will be the first to hear about ticketed events and new product releases and will have the opportunity to sign up and buy ahead of other Friends and the public.
 

Virtual Masterclass (500 points) – Friends will be invited to attend a special masterclass featuring unique products and stories from the distillery – up to four times a year.
 

Free shipping (600 points) - Free shipping on all product purchases from Laphroaig.com. Reward available to Friends in UK & Germany only.  More markets to be added in due course.

 

Points don’t need to be ‘spent’ to access a reward; you just need to ensure you have the required points balance to be able to access the reward you want.

 

As we look ahead to celebrating 30 years of Friends of Laphroaig, this new approach means we can play an even bigger and better part on the lives of our Friends, and we look forward to sharing more about this landmark year with everyone soon.

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