THE capital of the Scottish Highlands is to welcome a new £6 million whisky distillery and brewery which will be "sustainably powered by the water from the River Ness".
Described as the first new facility of its kind in Inverness for nearly 40 years, the project is expected to create 40 jobs, and Uilebheist Distillery is set to be a new low carbon distillery and brewery.
Named after the Scots’ Gaelic word for “monster”, the ethos of the project is inspired by "thousands of years of Scottish folklore aiming to connect Scotland’s ancient past with the present”.
Both beer and whisky production will begin this year, and the brewery’s five core beer styles will be available to purchase in late November.
The Uilebheist Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky will be created as the core whisky product and will be released once matured, as will rare cask finishes and single cask bottlings in the years ahead.
Jon Erasmus, Uilebheist owner, said: “The very foundations of this project were born from Scottish myth and legend. We wanted to create something unique to the area, with the distillery, and brewery both powered by the famous River Ness. All water used in the processes will also be sourced from the river, meaning that when you drink Uilebheist’s liquid, you really are tasting the Highlands.
“Alongside exceptional beer and whisky, we aim to raise the bar when it comes to visitor experiences and hope that the project will lead the way for Scotland’s hospitality sector in the area. The centre will offer a range of tours and experiences ranging from site tours and sampling of our core whisky and craft beer products through to detailed master classes, blending workshops and food pairing menus.”
The distillery, opening at the end of this year, is on track to be one of the lowest carbon distilleries in the country. Onsite heat pumps within the adjoined sustainability centre which are powered by the water from the River Ness will provide heating and hot water which is also distributed throughout the Glen Mhor Hotel complex.
The distillery and brewery will be headed up by Bruce Smith who has a Masters degree in Brewing & Distilling from Heriot-Watt University and spent the last decade working in the craft beer industry and ageing beer in ex-whisky barrels.
Mr Smith said: “We are on track to officially open in November 2022 and begin beer production which visitors can enjoy in the taproom. Whisky production will commence later this year, due to our small scale we will only produce around 200 casks annually, making Uilebheist one of the rarest whiskies in Scotland.
“The whisky will be matured in ex-bourbon and sherry casks, but the whisky will let us know when it’s ready and we have no intention to rush it. Quality is our number one focus.”
The Uilbeheist cask programme is an opportunity to own a cask of the Uilebheist Single Malt Whisky distilled in the first year of production. Only 100 casks will be made available this year and they will be sold on a first come first served basis.
Island distillery to reopen to visitors after revamp
THE owners of an Islay distillery have been granted permission to extend its off sales area and make changes to its layout ahead of its public reopening.
It is hoped the Caol Ila Distillery by Diageo, at Port Askaig, will reopen in August.
Factoring firm reveals acquisition plans
A GLASGOW-based property factoring specialist is targeting further acquisitions and a senior management change amid plans to expand up to four-fold over the next decade.
Newton Property Management outlined its ambitions as the firm reported a nine per cent rise in revenue to £3.78 million in 2021, which helped net profit climb 11% to £1.15m.
Sign up: You can now get the briefing sent direct to your email inbox twice-daily, and Business Week for the seven-day round-up on Sunday 👇
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here