The distillery was built in 2013 on the Arbikie Highland Estate, a 2,000 acre farm owned by the Stirling family for four generations.[2][3] There are earlier records of whisky production on the estate that date to 1794.[3] The distillery is owned by Stirling brothers John, Iain and David.[6][7]
Production uses barley and potatoes from the estate farm.[2][3] Overall, it is stated that 90% of all raw materials in the production process come from the farm.[6]
Arbikie Hill located south-west of the distillery
In August 2021, the distillery began an agreement with the company EcoSpirits for distribution, to reduce the carbon emissions associated with packaging and distribution.[8][9]
In December 2021, the distillery was granted £3 million through the Green Distilleries Competition to create a new hydrogen power plant at the distillery.[10][11]
A new experience visitor centre is due to open in Spring 2022.[6]
Products
The distillery uses pot and column stills from
CARL of Germany to produce whisky, gin and vodka.[2]
The core gin expression is named 'Kirsty's Gin' after master distiller Kirsty Black and includes botanicals such as seaweed, carline thistle and Scottish blaeberry.[5]
The distillery also produce a gin called Nàdar (nature) which is branded as climate positive in terms of environmental production.[12] Unusually, the gin uses peas instead of wheat in production.[12][13][14]
In 2020, the distillery released a Highland Rye whiskey.[17][7] On release, the rye whisky was the first commercial rye whisky produced for more than 100 years in Scotland.[18]
