Isle of Harris

The Isle of Harris distillery is one of the remotest in Scotland. Located on the island of Harris in the Outer Hebrides, the distillery was set up to rejuvenate the local community and create awareness and jobs. It is the first ever commercial distillery to be built on Harris and now employs 40 people. The single malt whisky, which is yet to be released, will be named The Hearach - this is the Gaelic word for a resident of Harris.

The distillery makes a medium peated style of spirit. The barley is dried using smoke from local peat and carries a phenol specification of 12-14ppm (PPM = Phenol Parts per Million. Phenol is the compound released from peat when it is dried and burned and is what gives whisky the smoky aroma and flavour). They have also distilled a more heavily peated spirit in small batches from malt with a specification of 30ppm. Both spirits are currently being matured in ex-bourbon or ex-sherry casks.

The annual capacity of Isle of Harris is 400,000 litres per year, although it is currently operating at around half of that. The distillery is equipped with a 1.2 tonne stainless steel mash tun clad with American oak. Nine mashes per week are run. There are eight wooden washbacks made of Oregon pine. Fermentation times range between 72 and 96 hours, depending on the time of year. Shorter times are run during warmer weather and longer times during winter.

Two small copper pot stills operate as a pair. The wash still is slightly larger with a 7,000 litre capacity with the spirit still holding up to 5,000 litres. The distillery has two maturation warehouses and water for production is taken from a nearby stream named Abhainn Cnoc a ’Charrain.

Isle of Harris Distillers Ltd. was founded by Anderson Bakewell in 2007. However, it was another eight years until the distillery was constructed and production began. During that time Bakewell assembled a collection of whisky executives to sit on the board. These included Simon Erlanger and Willie Phillips (former Managing Directors at Glenmorangie and Macallan respectively) and Ron MacEachran (former CFO at Whyte & Mackay).

The distillery was built in the town of Tarbert and began production in September 2015. The initial spirit was gin, which was released shortly afterwards. Harris Gin has since gone on to gain world acclaim and multiple global awards. It features local botanicals including sugar kelp, which is hand-collected for the distillery by a diver from a local sea loch. The pioneering bottle design of blue ridged glass is widely regarded as having inspired the current gin packaging revolution.

Whisky production began in December 2015 and now the two spirits are produced side by side at the distillery. The award-winning visitor centre offers tours, a whisky shop and retail space , plus a community area for use by local people. These have included Harris-based writers, artists and musicians plus school children and other community activities. Isle of Harris is a true success story and now over 100,000 people visit the island annually because of it.