First Shetland whisky distillery set to open

Lerwick Distillery is scheduled to open later this year and will become the first Shetland whisky producer.

The official opening date is to be confirmed, but founders Martin Watt and Calum Miller said the site was nearing completion.

Once open, Lerwick Distillery will be the most northerly whisky distillery in the UK. It will eventually open to visitors, and hopes to enhance tourism to the Scottish archipelago.

Ian Miller has been appointed master distiller of Lerwick Distillery. He brings more than 50 years of experience in whisky to the project, including 25 years spent at William Grant & Sons.

Caroline MacIntyre, one of the distillery co-founders, has also been named sales director.

Watt and Miller first began dreaming of opening a distillery more than 10 years ago. They found a site for the distillery in 2022, and worked with Business Gateway for advice on how to raise their profile and how to access funding.

Watt, director of Lerwick Distillery, said: “The support that we received from Business Gateway has been excellent. Diana [Abernethy, Business Gateway adviser] was able to point out things that we had missed in our business plan, and gave us access to great contacts to help us develop.

“If it hadn’t been for the funding Business Gateway signposted us to, we would not have raised enough share capital to be able to expand the business so quickly.

“The £4,000 [US$4,950] funding resulted in an extra £682,000 [US$844,000] share capital investment that really wasn’t expected. We truly couldn’t have done this without Business Gateway.”

Abernethy added: “It’s an exciting brand and journey they’re embarking on and will give such a boost to tourism in the area and the local economy.”

In other whisky news, Speyside distillery The Cabrach, which is preparing to open this summer, released its first Scotch whisky earlier this week.