Thurso, Caithness, 18 September 2014.

A SMOKY SENSATION

Wolfburn Distillery has today announced the completion of its first batch of peated spirit. Made with subtly smoky malted barley, the spirit has a distinctive aroma and a wonderfully peaty flavour.

“There’s a big demand globally for peated whisky,” says Shane Fraser, production manager. “We wanted to maintain the uniquie profile of Wolfburn’s spirit, which has already received hugely positive reviews, but at the same time produce a distinctive peaty expression. We used a lightly peated malt, with ten parts-per-million phenol, and the results have been fantastic.”

The peated spirit laid down in 2014 will be ready for limited bottling 2017 – and the Wolfburn team is planning to produce a similar peated expression on an annual basis each year thereafter. “Making best quality malt whisky is a process that can’t be rushed,” explains Shane. “We’ll only release it when it’s good and ready.”

Wolfburn’s inaugural whisky is expected in the first quarter of 2016. It will be made from spirit laid down during the early part of 2013. “There’s still a long way to go until we start bottling,” says production operator Iain Kerr, “but our production rate is ahead of forecast, and we have lots of truly exceptional spirit laid down already. We’re very much looking forward to being able to share our whisky with the world.”   

ABOUT WOLFBURN

The original Wolfburn Distillery was founded just to the west of Thurso by William Smith in 1821. In its day it was one of the largest distilleries in Scotland, producing, according to HMRC records, 28,056 “gallons of proof spirit” in a single year. Taking its name from the stream that provided the water – the Wolf Burn – the distillery operated until the 1860s after the passing of William Smith Sr and the family gave up the lease.

In 2011, plans were laid to resurrect the old distillery. Construction began in mid-2012 and in January 2013 the new Wolfburn Distillery commenced production, thereby becoming the most northerly whisky distillery on the Scottish mainland. Situated 350m from the site of the original distillery, the new distillery operates in much the same way as the old: craftsmen use traditional methods to produce fine spirit, which is laid down in best quality oak casks to await the day when it is bottled as whisky.