Jura Fèis Ìle 2026 brings two single cask whiskies that mark the 40th anniversary of the Islay and Jura festival. Fèis Ìle 2026, marking the 40th anniversary of the Islay and Jura festival. The festival release is a 16-year-old matured in second fill bourbon and finished 18 months in an Armagnac cask, bottled at cask strength for £130. The anniversary release is a 24-year-old finished eight years in a Sauternes barrique, also cask strength, at £320. Both are exclusive to the Jura distillery during the festival (22–31 May 2026); the 24-year-old will also reach specialist whisky bars across Scotland. As single casks, only a few hundred people will ever taste them.
Two casks. Two decades of patience. One island most of the world will never visit.
That’s the deal Jura is putting on the table for this year’s Fèis Ìle, the annual gathering on Islay and Jura that has spent four decades quietly becoming the most important week in the whisky calendar. To mark the festival’s 40th anniversary, the distillery has released two single cask expressions each one a product of long maturation, a single unusual finishing cask, and the kind of warehouse rummage that only produces results when the blender actually knows what they’re looking for.
What Fèis Ìle actually is and why it still matters
For anyone who hasn’t made the trip: Fèis Ìle pronounced roughly “Faysh Eela”, and translating from Scottish Gaelic as the Islay Festival is a ten-day celebration held in the last week of May across Islay and neighbouring Jura. It launched in 1986 as a community event rooted in island culture, music, and the whisky that defines both islands’ economies. Forty years on, it draws visitors from across the globe and shapes the release calendar of nearly every distillery on Islay.
What makes it different from a tasting fair or an industry showcase is the scale of access it offers. Distilleries open their doors properly. Distillery managers pour drams in the warehouses where the casks sit. Blenders talk through decisions they’d never discuss in a marketing brochure. The festival remains a non-profit organisation, with proceeds directed toward supporting the Islay community and its culture.
The 2026 edition runs from Friday 22nd May to Sunday 31st May and carries an additional weight: this is the 40th anniversary, and virtually every distillery on the island is treating that milestone seriously. Lagavulin has a 31-year-old hand-fill and a 14-year-old Oloroso finish. Caol Ila has an 11-year-old finished in Don Julio tequila casks. Ardnahoe is releasing its first 7-year-old expression. The benchmark is high.
Jura’s answer is two single casks one for the festival as a whole, one specifically honouring the anniversary.
The 16-year-old: Armagnac finish, coastal edge
Jura’s annual festival release is a 16-year-old bottled at cask strength from a single 400-litre Armagnac cask. The whisky spent the majority of its life in second fill Bourbon barrels chosen specifically for their transparency, allowing Jura’s distillery character to stay forward before an 18-month finish in the Armagnac vessel.
Lead Blender Joe Ricketts describes the thinking plainly: the Bourbon maturation kept the spirit expressive and fruity, then the Armagnac cask layered in something complementary rather than dominant. The result, according to the distillery’s tasting notes, sits in territory you’d expect from that combination apricot and apple on the nose alongside dark chocolate and black liquorice, stone fruit and dried fig on the palate, and a long finish with dried nectarine and what the notes describe as “subtle rock pool notes.” That coastal mineral character is Jura’s signature, and it’s still present even after 18 months in French brandy oak.
The details:
- Age: 16 years
- ABV: Cask strength
- Cask: Second fill Bourbon / 18-month Armagnac finish
- Price: £130 / 70cl
- Available exclusively at Jura distillery, 22–31 May 2026
Age: 16 years
The 40th anniversary release: 24 Years in sauternes
The second bottle is the more significant one, both in age and in ambition. A 24-year-old single cask finished for eight years in a Sauternes barrique, this is the expression Jura has been returning to since 2001. Ricketts describes visiting those vintage Sauternes casks with the distillery team over the past couple of years, tracking their development as the spirit picked up what he calls “charming patisserie-like notes.”
Eight years in a Sauternes cask is a serious commitment. Sauternes the sweet Bordeaux white wine produced from botrytis-affected grapes brings a very specific character: honeyed stone fruit, beeswax, preserved citrus, and a natural richness that works with whisky that already has age-driven depth. The tasting notes bear this out: citrus peel and ripe apricot on the nose, brioche and vanilla-spiced peach on the palate, a finish of macadamia nut and preserved lemon with sea spray.
Unlike the 16-year-old, this one won’t stay exclusively on Jura. As well as being available at the distillery during the festival window, it will also appear in specialist whisky bars and pubs across Scotland which gives it a slightly wider audience, though “slightly wider” in this context still means rare.
The details:
- Age: 24 years
- ABV: Cask strength
- Cask: Refill Bourbon / 8-year Sauternes finish
- Price: £320 / 70cl
- Available at Jura distillery 22–31 May 2026, and specialist whisky bars across Scotland
Jura 16 Year Old Armagnac finish tasting notes
Nose: apricot, baked apple, dark chocolate, black liquorice
Palate: stone fruit, dried fig, coastal minerality
Finish: long, dried nectarine, subtle rock pool notes ABV: cask strength | Cask: second fill bourbon + 18-month Armagnac finish | Price: £130 / 70cl
Jura 24 Year Old 40th Anniversary, Sauternes finish tasting notes
Nose: citrus peel, ripe apricot
Palate: brioche, vanilla-spiced peach
Finish: macadamia nut, preserved lemon, sea sprayABV: cask strength | Cask: refill bourbon + 8-year Sauternes finish | Price: £320 / 70cl
TASTING
| Bottle | 16 Year Old (Festival release) | 24 Year Old (40th Anniversary) |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 16 years | 24 years |
| ABV | Cask strength | Cask strength |
| Cask | 2nd fill bourbon + 18-mo Armagnac | Refill bourbon + 8-yr Sauternes |
| Nose | Apricot, baked apple, dark chocolate | Citrus peel, ripe apricot |
| Palate | Stone fruit, dried fig, minerality | Brioche, vanilla-spiced peach |
| Finish | Dried nectarine, rock pool | Macadamia, preserved lemon, sea spray |
| Price | £130 / 70cl | £320 / 70cl |
| Where | Jura distillery only | Distillery + specialist bars in Scotland |
| For whom | Fruit-forward Jura fans, festival-goers | Collectors after long-aged complexity |
Who makes Jura whisky
Jura has been distilling on the Isle of Jura since 1810, in the village of Craighouse, on a remote Hebridean island where red deer outnumber the few hundred residents many times over. Getting there means a ferry to Islay, then a second crossing to Jura. The distillery’s house style leans fruit-forward and lightly coastal rather than heavily peated, which is what lets finishes like Armagnac and Sauternes read clearly on the spirit.
Why the Jura Fèis Ìle 2026 release matters
The 40th anniversary of Fèis Ìle has pushed every participating distillery to reach further into their warehouses than usual. Jura has leaned into two ideas: one that showcases the distillery’s approachable, fruit-forward character through a shorter, complementary finish; and one that demonstrates what happens when you give Jura spirit enough time and the right cask to do something genuinely complex.
Neither of these whiskies will be available to order online or find on a supermarket shelf. If you want them, you need to be on Jura on 29 May, when the distillery will be welcoming visitors to its beachside site with tours, tastings, live music, cocktails, and boat trips along the coastline.
Jura has been making whisky on that island since 1810. The distillery sits in Craighouse, a village of a few hundred people, on an island where red deer outnumber residents ten to one. Getting there requires a ferry to Islay, then a smaller ferry crossing to Jura. It is, by most measures, out of the way. Fèis Ìle exists, in part, because the distilleries decided that the journey should be worth making. Two casks like these make the argument well.
Both expressions are exclusive to the Jura distillery during Fèis Ìle 2026 (22–31 May). The 40th Anniversary Release will also be available in specialist whisky bars across Scotland. Check Jura’s website for distillery visit details.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Jura Fèis Ìle 2026 release? Jura’s Fèis Ìle 2026 release is a pair of single cask single malts marking the 40th anniversary of the Islay and Jura festival. One is a 16-year-old Armagnac-finished festival bottle; the other is a 24-year-old finished in Sauternes for the anniversary. Both are bottled at cask strength.
What is the difference between the 16-year-old and 24-year-old Jura Fèis Ìle bottles? The 16-year-old matured in second fill bourbon with an 18-month Armagnac finish, giving apricot, dark chocolate and coastal minerality for £130. The 24-year-old spent eight years finishing in a Sauternes barrique, bringing brioche, vanilla-spiced peach and preserved lemon, and costs £320.
How much do the Jura Fèis Ìle 2026 whiskies cost? The 16-year-old Armagnac-finished festival release is £130 for a 70cl bottle. The 24-year-old Sauternes-finished 40th Anniversary release is £320 for 70cl. Both are bottled at cask strength as single casks, so volumes are very limited.
Where can I buy the Jura Fèis Ìle 2026 bottles? Both whiskies are exclusive to the Jura distillery during Fèis Ìle, 22–31 May 2026, with the distillery’s open day on 29 May. The 24-year-old 40th Anniversary release will also appear in specialist whisky bars and pubs across Scotland. Neither is sold online.
Are the Jura Fèis Ìle 2026 whiskies cask strength? Yes. Both the 16-year-old and the 24-year-old are single casks bottled at cask strength, meaning they are undiluted and bottled at their natural strength straight from the cask rather than reduced to a fixed ABV.
What is Jura distillery known for? Jura has distilled on the Isle of Jura since 1810. Its house style is fruit-forward and lightly coastal rather than heavily peated, which makes it well suited to expressive cask finishes. The distillery sits in Craighouse, a village of a few hundred people on a remote Hebridean island.
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