Isle of Harris Distillery is a Scotch whisky and

Gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper berries and other botanical ingredients. Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe. The modern gin was modified in Flanders and the Netherlands ...

distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

Tarbert Tarbert () is a place name in Scotland and Ireland. Places named Tarbert are characterised by a narrow strip of land, or isthmus. This can be where two lochs nearly meet, or a causeway out to an island. Etymology All placenames that variously s ...

on the

Isle of Harris Harris (, ) is the southern and more mountainous part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Although not an island itself, Harris is often referred to in opposition to the ''Isle of Lewis'' as the Isle of Harr ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The distillery was the first legal distillery ever built on Harris.

History

Plans for the distillery began in 2011 with submission to the local council

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar for, gd, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, italic=no, Council of the Western Isles, paren=left; ) is the Local government in Scotland, local authority for ''Na h-Eileanan an Iar'' (the Western Isles, also known as the Outer Hebrides), one of the 32 co ...

. With the support of a £2.8 million combined grant from the Scottish Government and the

Highlands and Islands Enterprise Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE; ) is the development agency for the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government with the role to "help build a prosperous, sustainable and inclu ...

fund, designed by John R. Coleman Architects, building commenced in spring 2014. The total investment for the original project was £10 million, with the remaining funding coming from private sources. The distillery opened in October 2015 and commenced production on 17 December 2015. In 2016,

BBC Alba BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day. The name ' is the Scottish Gae ...

produced a TV documentary about the first working year of the distillery. By 2017, the distillery had welcomed over 144,000 visitors, including

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, a ...

, as well as receiving 17 awards for their products. In 2020, the distillery began sponsoring a virtual

Cèilidh A ( , ) or () is a traditional Scottish and Irish social gathering. In its most basic form, it simply means a social visit. In contemporary usage, it usually involves Dance (event), dancing and playing Gaelic music, Gaelic folk music, eithe ...

. In January 2021, the distillery submitted plans to the Council for expansion, including a new maturation warehouse. In July 2021, the distillery launched an eco-friendly initiative to refill bottles. In autumn 2023, the distillery released its first single malt whisky.

Facilities

The distillery stills were made in

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

by Frilli Impianti. There is a visitor centre.

Products

As well as a single malt whisky called ''The Hearach'', the Gaelic word for a resident of Harris, the distillery makes a gin using botanicals including local sugar kelp seaweed. As of 2017, over two tonnes of seaweed had been collected for the gin production. Other botanicals in the gin include

Juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

Coriander Coriander (), whose leaves are known as cilantro () in the U.S. and parts of Canada, and dhania in parts of South Asia and Africa, is an annual plant, annual herb (''Coriandrum sativum'') in the family Apiaceae. Most people perceive the ...

, Angelica Root and Cassia Bark. The gin is sold in a distinctive blue bottle which won a Gold Award at the World Gin Awards in 2021. The gin bottles are manufactured in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

by the Stolzle Glass Group.

References

{{Scottish Distilleries Distilleries in Scotland Scottish malt whisky Gins