Distillery visit to Abhainn Dearg and Isle of Harris

Little did I know that my first ever distillery visits would be to the most remote distilleries in Scotland. Namely the Abhainn Dearg and Isle of Harris distilleries. I must say that Abhainn Dearg is located in a very isolated place, in Uig on the Isle of Lewis in the outer Hebrides. Due to the local Christian community they are not even allowed to have a sign by the road. Due to heavy rain I visited this distillery as the weather outside was not so fun. Abhainn Dearg is really a proper farm distillery.

If I drove by myself I would never guess that it is a distillery. They said that the production depends on the seasons as they also do other things during the year. The three year old that I tasted were promising and next year they will release their first ten year old. Very interesting being there. I have to say that the shape of the stills are interesting. I understand that they are based on illegal stills used in the seventies in that area.

The Isle of Harris Distillery were more modern and that building it was housed in were very modern design. Unfortunately I could not taste any whiskies as they have only been producing for two years but they seem to have a big success with their Isle of Harris gin.