Making our
whisky

The malted barley is milled in our malt mill to create grist. This is mixed with our fresh mountain water which has been heated and added to our mash tun. We then drain off the sugary liquid called wort.

The wort is cooled as it leaves the mash tun and transferred to one of our wooden or stainless steel washbacks. Yeast is added to the wort and the fermentation process begins. Over the next 48 hours the sugary wort solution and the yeast react to produce alcohol. This liquid is now called wash and with an alcohol content of 7-8% is ready for distillation.

The wash from the washback is distilled first in the wash still to produce low wines which has an alcohol strength of around 23%. This is then distilled in the spirit still to produce foreshots, spirit and feints. It is only the smallest, middle part of the distillation that is collected as spirit for maturation in our fine oak casks. The foreshots and feints are distilled a second time with low wines.

Our spirit lies dormant as it matures in our oak casks in our traditional warehouses at the foot of Ben Nevis until it is ready for bottling.