The first Wolfburn
It received its first licence to distil in 1823.1 Tax records show that in 1826 it made 28,056 gallons of proof spirit, roughly 125,000 litres, the most of any distillery in Caithness.2 The Ordnance Survey's 1876 Name Book records that it was in working order as late as 1850.6 In 1852 David Smith bought the site and ran the distillery for just one year.3
Silent
1858–2013Its stills and mash tun, where malted barley is steeped in hot water, were sold at auction in 1858.1,2,4 The first Ordnance Survey map of the area, from 1872, showed the distillery in ruins.1,2,6 The 1877 edition dropped the words 'in ruins', so the distillery may have worked on and off near the end.1,2 In May 2011 a small team found only a barely discernible pile of stones at the old site, but the Wolf Burn still flowed.5
Sources disagree: when it closed. This page uses 1858.
Rebuilt by the burn
Aurora Brewing Ltd, formed by private investors, won planning permission in 2012 and had Forsyths of Rothes build the plant 350 metres from the ruins.1,3,5 Shane Fraser, manager at Glenfarclas for seven years, joined as distillery manager in 2012.1,7 Iain Kerr, now the distillery manager, joined from The Glenlivet in 2013.1,5
Peat and bottling
It laid down its first peated spirit in 2014.1 In February 2016 it began bottling its whisky in a purpose-built bottling facility on site.2
How it makes its spirit
Its malt comes from the maltsters Mutons and Bairds.3 Wort, the sugary water from the mash, ferments in 4 stainless steel washbacks, the tanks where it becomes wash, a kind of beer.3,8 Fermentation lasts three to four days.8 It has 1 wash still and 1 spirit still.3 The spirit is double distilled, first in the wash still and then in the spirit still.9
Releases by year
Bottles in Peated distilled at Wolfburn, by release year.
| Year distilled | Bottles |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2021 | 2 |
| 2022 | 3 |
| 2023 | 2 |
| 2024 | 2 |
| 2025 | 1 |