Arbikie Distillery

Many distilleries acquire their own farmland to keep control of the process, or else forge strong relationships with local farmers. But Arbikie is an example of an even older tradition. One where long standing landowners and farmers turn to distilling as something exciting, and hopefully profitable, to do with their crops. The Stirling family have been farming at the 2,000 acre Arbikie Estate in Angus for four generations now. Their farming roots go back even further, to the late 17th century on the far coast of Scotland.

Arbikie distillery was founded by brothers John, Ian, and David Stirling. They had left the farm to pursue other careers, but returned home to open a distillery after conceiving of the idea over drinks. Work began in 2013 on converting an old cattle shed into a distillery capable of making multiple white and brown spirits, and it was ready to go after 18 months of work.

That first year saw the production of potato vodka and gin, with malt whisky distillation getting fully underway in October 2015 after a trial run months earlier. All of the spirits are first double distilled in Arbikie’s copper pot stills, which come from CARL Distillers in Germany. But while the whisky stops there, the vodka and gin go on for a third distillation in a rectification column.

The distillery is equipped with a 0.75 ton capacity mash tun, four washbacks, and a single set of pot stills. Fermentation times range from long, 96 hours, to very long at 120 hours. The wash still has a capacity of 4,000 litres, while the spirit still can hold 2,400 litres. Water for the distillery is pumped directly from an underground lagoon on the estate. Arbikie has an annual production capacity of 200,000 litres of spirits.

People waiting for single malt whisky form Arbikie are going to have to park themselves for some time. The first single malt releases aren’t expected until 2029/30, as Arbikie is committing to releasing well aged whisky. Expected to be a traditional Highland style whisky, with an added coastal influence, it will be released as 14, 18, and 21 year old expressions. A mixture of ex-Bourbon barrels and ex-Sherry hogsheads are being used for maturation.