Whisky galore as new Fife distillery opens

Provost of Fife Jim Leishman with Founder & MD Ian Palmer. Pic: Steven Brown.

InchDairnie Distillery, based in the town’s Whitecraigs Road, has been founded by whisky industry veteran, Ian Palmer.

With its premises a piece of striking contemporary architechture, and its whisky-making process based on five flavour innovations, the distillery is taking a bold, forward-thinking approach to producing Scotch malt whisly, while remaining respectful of tradition.

The build took around 18 months and the facility will produce two million litres of whisky in its first year and as such, it steps away from the recent surge in ‘micro’ distilleries.

The distillery, which has created 10 new jobs, uses numerous energy-efficient production methods, all designed to enhance its quest to innovate with flavour.

Over the coming years, InchDairnie Distillery will focus on laying down stock for the future and the creation of its first InchDairnie Single Malt Scotch whisky, which is expected to be available to consumers around 2029.

In addition, the distillery will make a malt for blending to sell to other distillers such as its strategic partner MacDuff International.

Mr Palmer said: “We are fortunate not to be under any commercial pressure to release our whisky so we will wait until the whisky is at its absolute best, which could be in 10, 12 or 15 years time, only time will tell.

“InchDairnie is the culmination of a dream and everything I’ve learnt about whisky-making over the last four decades.

“I’m hugely respectful of whisky-making traditions, but at InchDairnie our vision is to use technical expertise to capture and nurture all of the flavours from the whisky-making process.

“That’s why, alongside traditional ingredients such as water, malted barley and yeast, technology and innovation will be important ingredients in our whisky. The contemporary look of the distillery is designed to reflect our approach.

“A great deal of time and investment has been focused on ensuring that every piece of equipment and every step of the whisky-making process has been thoroughly researched and fine-tuned to create the best possible spirit.”

InchDairnie Distillery uses local Fife barley and water in creating the full-bodied and complex whisky.

>> What do you think? Send your letters to [email protected]