Interesting questions Carl. I suspect that one problem is the the relatively low percentage of singles compared to what goes int blends. Unless a brand is well known, heavily marketed with an excellent quality image (like Laphroaig) distillery economics will depend on how much goes to blends. Heavily peated, big malts are used as the base for many blends but can be sourced from more than one place, and I suppose can be substituted for another similar base. Ardbeg has never been pushed and I guess could compromise the Laphroaig brand identity if marketed heavily as a single. More info from the webmaster perhaps ?