The Islay Ales Company Limited was founded by Paul Hathaway, Paul Capper and Walter Schobert in 2003 to establish a microbrewery on the Hebridean Isle of Islay.

Paul Hathaway moved to Islay in August 2003, having visited many times on holiday in the past. His long-term ambition was to live and work on the Island.

Paul Capper moved to Islay to live in 1993, though he only became a full time resident in January 2003 after retiring from the West Midlands Fire Service after 27 years.

Walter Schobert recently retired after many years working as the curator of the German Film Museum in Frankfurt, Germany. He has a life long interest in beer and Single Malt Scotch Whisky, subjects on which he has written extensively. With his interest in Single Malt Whisky it was natural for him to retire to Islay with its seven working distilleries.

Another important figure in the the setup is Liz Hathaway who is the Company Secretary in addition to her working at the RSPB Scotland reserve on Islay.

Sharing an interest in beer, Paul, Paul and Walter naturally decided that an Island with seven distilleries producing some of the most famous whiskies in the world, needed a brewery, and hence decided to establish a microbrewery on Islay.

There are two other people who, while not involved directly with the running of the Brewery were instrumental in getting Islay Ales up and running. Dave Porter, of the Porter Brewing Company, supplied, installed and commissioned the brewing plant. He also took us through the first brew. Adrian Corke, of the Leek Brewery, Staffordshire, supplied, installed and commissioned the bottling plant. We are grateful to both of them for there support and help. The rest, as they say, is history!