Fife whisky distilleries submit plans for new facilities in Glenrothes

John Fergus & Co Ltd and the Wemyss Family Spirits Ltd have put forward plans to Fife Council seeking permission to create the new facilities at the InchDairnie Distillery on the west side of the town.

The John Fergus facility will consist of 16 warehouses and associated SuDS ponds, while the Wemyss Family Spirits facility will be made up of 12 warehouses, a small tank farm and a utilities building.

It is estimated that four full time rolls will be created with the development, with further employment created as the two brands expand.

The two companies are currently in discussion to buy the land, which belongs to the council, however, it is a condition of the purchase that the planning permission and hazardous substance consent is approved.

A statement from John Fergus notes: “Both companies wish to strengthen their scotch whisky businesses in Fife by both creating maturation warehouses and by expanding existing maturation warehouses.

“Wemyss Family Spirits will build in the south section of the land and this will be their first whisky maturation warehouses and whisky processing facility while John Fergus & Co Ltd will expand its existing maturation facility.

“Both companies have distilleries in Fife and want also to mature their whiskies in Fife. Fife grown, Fife distilled, and Fife matured.”

John Fergus & Co built the InchDairnie distillery in 2014, which started distilling in 2015. Between 2017 and 2019 the company built an additional eight maturation warehouses and in 2019 built a whisky blending facility.

The company has over this period created 15 full time permanent employment positions at the distillery and maturation facility. The company uses barley grown in Fife for its branded whiskies. It wants its whiskies that were distilled in Fife from this barley to be matured in Fife.

As yet the company has not launched any of its brands as the whiskies are still maturing. The company, in addition to producing malt whisky for its own brands, also produces whiskies for MacDuff International.

Wemyss Family Spirits is part of the same group that owns the Kingsbarns distillery. The company is currently renting maturation warehouse capacity. The company wants to own and to have control over its own maturation warehouses in Fife.