Saxa Vord distillery is a

Scotch whisky Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland. All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial dist ...

and

gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink that derives its flavour from juniper berries ('' Juniperus communis''). Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe, particularly in southern Italy, Flanders and the ...

distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heat ...

on the island of

Unst Unst (; sco, Unst; nrn, Ønst) is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles and is the third-largest island in Shetland after Mainland and Yell. It has an area of . Unst ...

, part of the

Shetland islands Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the n ...

. The distillery takes its name from its location immediately south of

RAF Saxa Vord Remote Radar Head Saxa Vord or RRH Saxa Vord (aka RAF Saxa Vord), is a Royal Air Force radar station located on the island of Unst, the most northern of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. As of July 2019 it is once more a fully operational radar ...

, an RAF station and headland. The distillery buildings are adjacent to the

SaxaVord Spaceport SaxaVord Spaceport, previously known as Shetland Space Centre, is a planned spaceport to be located on the Lamba Ness peninsula on Unst, the most northerly of the Shetland Islands. The proposed site is near the RAF Saxa Vord radar station and t ...

. It is the most northerly distillery in the United Kingdom. The distillery is the first legal distillery on the Shetland Islands and the first ever legal whisky in Shetland.

History

The distillery company was first established in 2012 by Wilma and Stuart Nickerson (formerly of William Grant & Sons), and Frank and Debbie Strang. By 2013, plans proposed modifying former RAF buildings at Saxa Vord to house the distillery. The first gin was produced in August 2015 and the first blended whisky released in November 2015.

Products

The distillery produces drinks under the Shetland Reel brand. Their standard products include an island-distilled gin and a blended

Single malt whisky Single malt whisky is malt whisky from a single distillery. Single malts are typically associated with single malt Scotch, though they are also produced in various other countries. Under the United Kingdom's Scotch Whisky Regulations, a "S ...

. The gin is made with botanicals include apple mint. The company exports its products to numerous countries, including the US, Canada and Sweden. The distillery has also produced a limited cask-aged gin.

References

{{Scottish Distilleries Gins Scottish malt whisky Distilleries in Scotland