DUNROBIN DISTILLERY:
OUR VISION IS TO CREATE A HIGH-PROVENANCE SINGLE MALT WHISKY DISTILLERY, RE-PURPOSING THE ORIGINAL CASTLE POWERHOUSE.
OUR WHISKY:
Our whisky will be high-provenance and entirely single estate, from barley to bottle, and will build on the rich heritage of coastal Highland distilling in and around Sutherland. Indeed the Clynelish distillery was created in 1819 by the Marquess of Stafford, later to become the 1st Duke of Sutherland, to provide a market for the barley grown by his tenants.
Our water source – an enigmatic mountain burn – flows from the hills above the castle and still powers the fountains in the castle gardens.
It is our intention to investigate heritage cultivars of barley that would have grown in Sutherland before the advent of mass commercial agriculture – to search for the lost flavours of this very special part of Scotland.
DUNROBIN ESTATE
ICE HOUSE GIN:
We will launch with an ultra high-provenance single estate gin, using botanicals foraged wil on the estate and grown in our two acre kitchen garden.
Our gin distillery will be entirely unique – sited in our characterful 18th century ICE HOUSE.
In times before electricity and refrigeration the Dunrobin ice house was used to store game and fish shot and caught during the summer months and chill-stored over the winter. Ice was cut from local lakes and rivers and packed into the deep chamber of the Ice House to create a refrigerated atmosphere.
ICE HOUSE GIN:
This fascinating, monumental sunken structure will now become our gin distillery.
ICE HOUSE GIN:
Our architects, working with our Head Distiller Jack Mayo, have ascertained that our gin still and equipment will fit (just!) in the Ice House and our Head Gardner, Ian, is already growing the core botanicals for our spirit.
Our botanist, Susanne, has carried out an ethno-botanical survey of the Estate and has put together an inspiring botanical recipe for our Ice house Gin, using mostly wild foraged botanicals from the Estate.
This gin is going to be very special, and quite unique.
