INVERNESS’S first distillery in 130 years has officially opened, reconnecting the city with its lost whisky and brewing history.
The £7.5 million Uile-bheist distillery and brewery on River Ness, powered by a low carbon sustainability centre on site, is aiming to attract 100 visits per day during peak season.
It is also hoping to expand in future with the creation of a distilling “campus” with increased capacity as well as shopping and a tap room.
Inverness was previously home to the Glen Mhor, Glen Albyn and Millburn distilleries, although these were all closed when global production outstripped demand.
Uile-bheist, which is Gaelic for “monster”, is the first distillery to open in the city since 1892, with the first sought-after casks being filled in the coming days.
Its signature five craft ales will be ready for early April and will be the first beers brewed in Inverness for 34 years.
Co-owner Jon Erasmus, whose first application for a brewery on the current Ness Bank site was knocked back in 2014, said: “Our scale is craft, not volume. Our clean energy process, using shallow water wells, has been described as exemplary.
“It’s great to bring whisky distilling and brewing back to the city but we also wanted a high level of design specification throughout, from the stills to the dramming area, to the tap room.
“If people have travelled from New York or Tokyo, or if they’ve seen a lot of other distilleries, we want them to come here and think: ‘I really like what they’ve done here. Everything is photogenic’.”
Water and energy for the production comes from the River Ness through a pioneering heating system which uses shallow water wells to fire heat pumps.
The production of both the whisky and beer comes through a dual technology developed by and imported from famous German brewing innovators and coppersmiths Kaspar Schulz.
Master brewer Bruce Smith, who last worked for Innis and Gunn, said: “With our whisky, we are looking to forge our own path. We are not going to bind ourselves to traditions of the 1800s. We want to be a little experimental.
“Basically, we will release whisky only when we are proud of it and feel it truly represents the brand.”
The company enlisted pop culture illustrator Ken Taylor, who has created posters for animated movies Up and How To Train Your Dragon, to create the design which adorns the tap room and space walls.
Around 350 000 litres of craft beer a year will be produced alongside 200-300 casks of whisky, with the aim that this will eventually rise to between 500 and 600.
A full hourly tour programme begins on April 1.
