A great whisky needs a range of ingredients and conditions. Rarely has such a combination come together so perfectly as on Shetland.

Detailed scientific analysis has been undertaken to confirm the potential of producing a truly outstanding single malt. The key ingredients are:

The purest water straight from sandstone springs, unsullied by man
Water flows up from sandstone and shoots out from springs all over The Shetland Islands. Our chosen source, bubbling up beside our distillery site, flows all year round. The water flows into a burn that meanders over peat and then flows down to the cove, unaffected by man from source to sea. The lochs behind are the source for other processes eg cooling waters, and are fed by the high rainfall in the area.

The slowest forming peat on Earth
Peat has been forming here since at least the Bronze Age, some 4000 years ago, and has seen little commercial exploitation. Due to the extreme northern latitude and cool weather, Shetland peat grows incredibly slowly and includes local flora unique to the area. This leads to a rich aromatic peat ideally suited to help create a truly outstanding malt, in full or lightly peated styles.

Temperature Table (Click to view)

A cool, damp place ideal for whisky maturation
At 60� North, Shetland is on the same latitude as Alaska or St. Petersburg. You might expect the weather to be Arctic-like in winter, yet it rarely falls below freezing. The Northern Drift, an offshoot of the Gulf Stream, flows rapidly past Shetland. Seed pods from the balmy Caribbean have been known to wash up on the shore. The effect of the Drift is to warm the climate in winter and cool it in summer so that temperatures vary only a little year round (5-15�C on average). It also rains two days out of every three...

Rainfall Table (Click to view)

The wildest, freshest sea winds in the Heavens
Shetland is a group of 110 islands, only 16 of which are inhabited, which lie at the far north of Scotland near Norway. They receive the full force of the stormiest weather the Atlantic has to offer. Force 13 gales for days on end are not unknown and outside a few sheltered valleys, trees cannot stand the powerful sea-spray-filled wind. Tough for trees, but ideal for whisky maturing in barrels close to our sea cove site on Mainland, some 10 miles from Lerwick. This is the last remaining region in Scotland without a distillery and will be the most northerly.

Wind speed facts (Click to view)

A history of welcoming visitors and new ideas, spectral or otherwise!
The people of Shetland originally spoke Old Norse rather than Gaelic and hailed some 1200 years ago from Norway and became part of Scotland some 600 years ago. They have welcomed new people and ideas over the centuries and are known for their hospitality to all and ecumenical thinking. In the tradition of camaraderie and adventure, they have warmly embraced the prospect of their first distillery with tremendous gusto and pride and are perplexed as to why the angels did not choose it hitherto...

Families traditionally supported themselves with fishing and supplemented by food and animals cultivated on a croft. Given the adverse climate, a rich culture of mutual help and support has developed and on a dark and stormy night, even today no one is turned from the door.

A strong oral (Bardic) and music tradition has also developed and Shetland fiddle music is known worldwide.

First indications of a truly great malt.
Samples have been made using local peat, water and Scottish barley, replicating the climactic conditions. The results suggest the whisky, both peated and unpeated, will have its own unique character distinctive to Shetland itself. Closest references are lightly peated Islay whisky or other outstanding Northern Malts such as Highland Park on Orkney. A local resident on tasting the peated sample exclaimed "I don 't know how you have done this but this IS the smell of Shetland - it is exactly as I remember my grandfather's croft with the burning peat in the fire and sweet mutton drying nearby - wonderful." We expect different wood finishes will bring out various flavour profiles in both the peated and unpeated malts and indeed show the potential to be accessible in taste as outstanding, easy-drinking whiskies.

The same unique features that make Shetland such an ideal place for distilling whisky produce one other distinctive side effect. The sea and the rain make the air so moist that the normal level of 2% per year evaporation of whisky from the barrels into the air is greatly reduced leaving an even richer whisky behind.