Harvest Time.

The big news of the last few weeks has been the harvest of our extra special bere barley, the heritage grain that will form the backbone of our upcoming whisky production. It was a beautiful day on September 1st as the barley was harvested under a bright blue sky, with the sound of the sea just a stone’s throw away, the big yellow combine harvester trundling back and forth, bringing the beautiful golden grains one step further on their journey to becoming beautiful golden whisky.

Whisky Fest.

We might not have started production quite yet, but that didn’t stop us having a blast with our very first whisky festival taking place on Monday. We welcomed a steady stream of whisky fans to the distillery, including 4 of our cask holders, and enjoyed a day of drams with our friends from Island Spirit Whisky in Stornoway, delicious seafood from Lochmaddy Bay Prawns, a fantastic croft tour and talk with our very special neighbour, Donald, and a film screening of Whisky Galore in what is soon to be our production room. Our visitor centre team led hourly tours of the building, sharing our story so far and plans for the future, and all in all it was a really fantastic day that we look forward to repeating next year.

The finale of the whisky trail festival takes place on Saturday at Talisker in Skye, and we hope to see at least some of you there. Come and say hi in the North Uist Distillery yurt and enjoy tastings, perfect serves, and stocking up on your Downpour favourites.