Arran Distillery

The first distillery on the Isle of Arran

Overview

The Arran Distillery in Lochranza, Scotland is the only distillery on the Isle of Arran. Arran Distillery was founded in 1995 and is the first legal distillery built on the Isle of Arran in over 150 years. There used to be about fifty distilleries on the island, but most of them were "moonlight" or illegal distilleries.

The water for the malt is from Loch na Davie.

The distillery of the Isle of Arran was founded by Harold Currie, former director of Chivas. The spirit produced in the distillery has officially been called "whisky" since the summer of 1998. To celebrate this event, a limited bottling has been released, to restore an ancient tradition.

Following a survey by the Geology Department of Glasgow University, the owner was was advised to open his new Distillery on Arran for three reasons:

They had found the purest water supply in all of Scotland at Loch na Davie, high in the hills that overlook the village of Lochranza on the North coast of Arran.

Arran is washed by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream and enjoys a microclimate - ideal for the speedy maturation of single malt whiskies.

In 1995 Arran was opend in one of the most beautiful locations in Scotland, employing the traditional methods of distilling, with wooden washbacks and copper stills designed to our exact specification. The location offers perfect water for whisky production, cleansed by granite and softened by peat as it comes down from the mountain above. The atmosphere of sea breezes and clear mountain air together with the warm flow of the Gulf Stream matures the Arran Malt to perfection in earth floored warehouses.

Arran uses no peat in the production process and no caramel for artificial colouring. As a result their products are rightly described as 'the true spirit of nature'.

Arran Single Malt products are also non-chillfiltered. Chill filtration was invented to improve the physical clarity and brightness of the bottled spirit by removing the emulsified oils to eliminate clouding in the bottle. Many independent companies have started bottling once again without the chill filtration as they believe it also removed many flavour elements of the spirit. A non-chillfiltered bottling is more natural and allows the spirit to retain as much of its original character as The Hillspossible.

Production commenced at 14.29 on Thursday 29th June 1995 and during the official opening ceremony on August 17th two golden eagles, who live on the mountain behind the Distillery, provided a fly past as a 'thank you' for halting building work for several weeks to allow them to hatch their chicks. On a warm summer's day they can still be found, floating high on the thermal currents, before dropping like a stone hunting their quarry.

A proportion of the casks are stored in the warehouses of Springbank, due to a lack of room in the distillery, and the legal impossibility of extending the current warehouses at the Arran distillery.

The whisky of Arran is used in lots of blends, among others Loch Ranza and Holy Isle Cream Liquor.