Gin before whisky
Co-founder Ian Smith says the Duke of Argyll banned distilling on Tiree in 1802.6,7 Smith and Campbell were musicians in the folk band Trail West, and they set up the company to revive distilling on the island.1,2
Peated
Isle of Tiree is a whisky and gin distillery in West Hynish, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, that made its first spirit in 2019.1,2,3 Folk musicians Ian Smith and Alain Campbell founded the Tiree Whisky Company behind it in 2012.1,2,4 Its first mash for single malt whisky followed in 2020.1,5
In 2018 the pair began turning the workshop of Smith's father into a distillery.2,5 The remote site meant adapting the stills to run without three-phase power and adding filters for some of the hardest water in the UK.2,5 In November 2018 a 250-litre gin still was installed, which the company calls Tiree's first legal still since the early 1800s.1,9 The first batch of Tyree Gin made at the distillery followed in February 2019.1,2,3 A shop and visitor centre opened in June 2021.1
The grain is mixed by hand with hot water in a mash tun made from a former sherry barrel.2,10,11 The sugary water, called wort, ferments in sherry barrels and stainless steel fermenters, and the founders call fermentation in their oak washbacks extra-long.2,10,11 This fermented beer, called wash, is first distilled in 2 wide, handmade copper wash stills from Portugal.4,11,12 The spirit from that first distillation, called low wines, is distilled again in a 300-litre spirit still.11,12 All the stills are heated by direct fire, which co-founder Alain Campbell says brings a toasty flavour.2,10,11 The spirit is unpeated, as peat is not particularly traditional on Tiree.8,10,11 Its water comes from Barrapol Machair; a machair is a fertile, low-lying grassy plain on the coast.12,13
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