Torabhaig Distillery – Isle of Skye
On Friday 19th October Jacqueline (Whisky Wife) and I headed for Plockton to spend a few days at the Plockton Inn, which is one of my favourite hotels. The rooms are quite basic (but with all the usual needs) tea/coffee, tv, en-suite and wi-fi. They have quite a grand selection of single malts and the food is some of the best you can eat anywhere, the hotel even has it’s own smokery, please check the hotel out, it’s location is ideal for touring Skye and over to Applecross.
This trip we decided to go via the Mallaig ferry to Skye and then over the Skye bridge to the Kyles of Lochalsh. The road to the bridge passes the Torabhaig Distillery.
We had to call in. What a surprise we got it is one of the nicest and best laid out distilleries we have ever visited. We were met by Graham and Carol who were effervescent and you could tell that they really enjoyed working at the distillery.
Carol gave us a tour and a wee taste of Mossburn Cask no.1 Smoke and Spice, A blend of Single Malt Scotch Whiskies distilled on the islands of Scotland. very nice indeed. Check out their range at Mossburn Whisky.
Here are some stats about Torabhaig.
The journey started four years ago when it was when is was decided that the distillery would be within an early nineteenth century farm steading at Torabhaig.
Torabhaig Distillery Limited is a subsidiary of Mossburn Distillers Limited who are based in Jedburgh.
Distilling started in early 2017 and the intended style will be lightly peated. (Canny Wait)
The layout is great, you walk from the mash tun past eight washbacks to the two gleaming copper stills. stunning.
Mash tun: 1.5 tons of peated barley malt per mash
8 Douglas Fir washbacks, 8000 litres each.
8000 litre wash still, made by Forsyths of Rothes. 1st distillation at 26% alcohol.
5000 litre spirit still also made by Forsyths of Rothes. 2nd distillation at 69% alcohol.
The expected distillery output should be about 1.5 million bottles of Single Malt per year.
Over and above having a beautiful distillery they also have a shop and a delightful cafe.
So, if you are visiting the Isle of Skye top of you list of must see has got to be Torabhaig Distillery, it has been a long time since I have visited such a delightful distillery. My first visit but it will not be my last. Looking forward to tasting this new Single Malt in the years to come.
One last thing, I could not leave without buying a bottle of Mossburn. I was drawn to the 9 year old Vintage Cask of Ardmore, which is now in my cabinet.
Again I must give our thanks to Graham and Carol for the attention and enthusiasm they showed to Jacqueline and I
