Katie and Michael MorrisonWork begins on Scotland’s most westerly distillery
Construction has begun on a new distillery in Castlebay on the Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides. The £12m project will be Scotland’s most westerly distillery and is scheduled to open in October 2026. Husband and wife team Michael and Katie Morrison founded The Isle of Barra Distillers Co in 2017 and began planning their new distillery in 2021.
‘My wife and I are Isle of Barra born and bred. When we moved back to the island after a few years on the mainland, we knew we wanted to create opportunities for more families to call Barra home and make sure there could be a future on the island for generations to come,’ said Michael. ‘Building our distillery is a transformative step for our island community.’
The distillery will bring new jobs to the island and support local tourism with a visitor centre, shop and cafe, while also contributing to economic growth and community development. To celebrate the start of construction, the Morrisons have launched two whiskies – Blended Malt and 10 Year Old Blended Malt – alongside their existing range, which includes Hebridean Vodka and Atlantic Gin. Limited to 986 bottles, the Blended Malt (Alc 46%) is layered with vanilla, toffee, dry baking spices, hay and orange chocolate, with a long, spicy, ginger and white pepper finish. £45/70cl Isle of Barra Distillers
Spirited words
‘A perfect Martini should be made by filling a glass with gin and waving it in the general direction of Italy’
Noel Coward
What to drink now… Fine à L’Eau
Bar Nouveau, Paris
@bar_nouveau_
Published this month, Tyler Zielinski’s new book Tiny Cocktails (£16.99 Clarkson Potter) showcases the art of making miniature drinks to help you create cocktail flights at home. This recipe is from the bijou Bar Nouveau in Paris. Zielinski writes: ‘Everything Remy Savage touches turns to (liquid) gold. As one of the world’s leading voices on vacuum distillation in bars, he… also appreciates the nuances of a simple serve, crafted with exceptional ingredients. Take the Fine à L’Eau, a straightforward tiny Cognac highball… Savage says [it] is “probably my favorite drink of all time”… It’s a modern version of the classic French Cognac highball. And once batched together, the cocktail has a shelf life of up to a year. It’s an expression of simplicity and provenance, and sometimes those characteristics make the best cocktails.’
Ingredients: 22.5ml Cognac, 15ml verjus, 15ml simple syrup, 30ml soda water
Glass: Small wine glass
Garnish: None
Method: Chill the Cognac in the freezer and the rest of the ingredients in the refrigerator for at least one hour beforehand. Combine the Cognac, verjus and simple syrup in a chilled lowball or tiny wine glass. Add the soda water and enjoy.
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The post Distilled: A new distillery on the Isle of Barra appeared first on Decanter.
Source : https://www.decanter.com/magazine/distilled-a-new-distillery-on-the-isle-of-barra-549588/
