Timing is everything. Which is the best excuse I can give for why it’s not even 11.30am and we’re already propping up the bar at Uile-bheist Distillery with three beers and a whisky in front of us. “This only came in yesterday,” our guide Connor says as he pours a dram, “so you’ve chosen a great day to be here.” Resistance is futile.
Many distilleries start off making gin while they wait for their whisky to mature (Scotch has to do so for at least three years to be classified as such), but at Uile-bheist they’ve started with beer, which, when you consider that the two things are made from the same initial ingredients (barley, yeast and water), makes sense. The sleek, glass-fronted building here is mere steps away from the River Ness, which provides water not just for the drinks, but for power – the on-site energy centre produces enough electricity for both the distillery and its adjoining hotel.
