How it makes its spirit
Tayburn designed and built the stills himself, modelling them on an old illicit still he had found.3,5 They have long necks that look a little like witches’ hats.3,5
Peated
Abhainn Dearg is an independent craft distillery that Mark Tayburn built in a former salmon hatchery at Carnish, Uig, on the Isle of Lewis.1,2,3 It began making spirit in September 2008, the first legal whisky made in the Outer Hebrides in modern times.1,2,3 Since 2015 it has made its single malt from barley grown on Lewis.2,4
The Mackenzie brothers of Melbost Farms helped it grow its barley, which now comes from Goathill Farm, Melbost.2,4 A 2022 Whisky Magazine report said barley from Stornoway was malted over a peat fire at the distillery, in what might just be the smallest maltings in Scotland.8 The same report said American bourbon, Madeira and wine casks and sherry butts were racked in its small warehouse.7,8 Most of its barrels are American oak that held bourbon before.7,8 Its water comes down from Loch Raonasgail by the river the distillery is named after.1,6,9 Local people named the river's lower part Abhainn Dearg, or Red River, hundreds of years ago.1,6,9
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