Founded in 2012 by trad folk musicians Alain Campbell and Ian Smith, Tiree Whisky Company Ltd aims to preserve and promote the island’s whisky heritage and revive distilling in the area.
Once known as Tìr an Eòrna, which translates from Gaelic to the “Land of Barley,” Tiree was home to no less than 50 distilleries before the 1800s.
Alain Campbell and Ian Smith (Image: Supplied)
However, unlike other islands, it did not re-establish a distillery until 2019 when the two musicians lit the stills of the Isle of Tiree Distillery for the first time.
Smith said: “This is an important moment in the island’s history as we reconnect with an industry that was once such an important part of island life.
“As well as providing local employment, we hope that our distillery will encourage visitors from all over the world to come to our home on Tiree.”
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Campbell meanwhile added: “We created our distillery to bring whisky production back to the island and this will be the first single malt whisky from Tiree in over 200 years.
“The distilling heritage of our island has inspired us since we were kids and we are immensely proud to bring whisky back to Tiree.
“We have strived to keep our production methods true to our ancestors – we use most traditional methods along with grain, water, fire and gravity – that’s all we need.
“We hand mash laureate malted barley in mesh mash bags – hoisted high on wooden blocks to lauter clear the wort into our oak mash tun.
“This is followed by an extra-long fermentation in our oak washbacks.
“First distillations take place in our wide copper washstills, followed by carefully distilling the spirit in our 300-litre spirit still. And then age our whisky in small casks and our maturation happens right on the rocky Tiree coastline.”
This first release of Isle of Tiree Single Malt Scotch Whisky is limited to only 800 bottles and retails at £199.99. Last year, an initial pre-sale of 400 bottles sold out in less than two hours.
The first 10 bottles will be reserved and sold at auction from the 31st of January and 10% of profits from the auction will be donated to local island charities.