I love it that I can fill up my drinks table with sprits and beer from Caithness. And share Caithness snacks too! OK, no-one here is making wine, but let’s hear it for the grain, eh!
Small really is beautiful, and creating prize-winning spirits is literally in the water here. Not to mention the passion and hard work it takes to create independent alternatives in a world where two corporate giants (Diageo and Pernod-Ricard) own 450 brands of spirits between them.
This introduces the people and stories behind our six distilleries and one brewery, here in Caithness. They are all strongly local, but their stories are very different.
The Old Pulteney distillery was founded in 1826, and was only accessible by sea at the time. It is the oldest and largest distillery in the county, and uses a 100 year old mill to process local barley. The pre-Victorian buildings are in Pulteney Town, the area in Wick built by the gloriously named ‘British Society for Extending the Fisheries and Improving the Sea Coasts of the Kingdom’ for people working in the Herring industry. Old Pulteney is probably best known for their 12 year old and 18 year old malts, but our favourite is of course their Noss Head whisky. You cannot buy bottles, any more, alas, but you can pop into Mackays Hotel to sample a dram.
There is a welcoming visitor centre and shop, with the distillery and large warehouses behind. Book tours online.
Northpoint Distillery is an ambitious new venture founded during the Covid pandemic in 2020. The business has a strong international flavour, with one of the co-founders coming from Canada, so it seems only right that their buildings were part of a NATO listening station during the Cold War. They even have their own bunker! Five years later, they are growing fast, with a team of fourteen, regular new releases, and several creative collaborations with international suppliers and customers.
They have a small shop and a large tasting room, and you can book tours online.
First founded in 1821 upstream of its present site, the original distillery disappeared, reappeared and disappeared again between the 1850s and 1870s. When the present-day founders looked for the site of the old distillery in 2011, all they found was a pile of stones, and the nearby Wolf Burn which they use to create their whisky today. The distillery completes the full process on site, from milling to bottling, and has a number of award winning whiskies, and small batch releases.
You can book shorter or longer tours, and private tastings for groups.
Martin and Claire Murray were born in Caithness, and returned to establish Dunnet Bay distillers in 2014. They grow many of their own botanicals in a geodome on site to create Holy Grass Vodka and Rock Rose gin. They collaborate with local artists to issue special editions. A selection of their miniatures is a wonderful treat for you or the gin lover in your life, and a recent addition is their Mapmakers Rum. They are also restoring the old Castletown Mill to launch Stannergill Whisky – see below.
Their tasting room and shop both showcase work by local artists and crafts people, and are sited on the edge of Dunnet Bay, on the main road from John o’Groats to Thurso.
Book tours and tastings online.
John o’Groats Brewery was founded by four friends in 2015 in the Old Fire Station at John o’Groats. In 2019, they relocated the brewery, and opened a visitor centre and pub in the Last House at John o’Groats Harbour. The old part of the pub is tiny but welcoming, and at the back you can visit their shop where you can buy their beers, local spirits from Ice and Fire and Hellsmouth, and a range of craft ciders. And of course you can sit down and enjoy sipping a drink with magnificent views over the Pentland Firth.
It’s a great stop for children too, because the audio tour takes half an hour, and the local legends and stories are suitable for children of 8 or over.
Kerry and Derek Campbell opened the doors of their distillery and filled their first cask in 2022, after four years of planning and work. It is the newest distillery you can visit on the NC500, and has a strong contemporary vibe while being rooted in traditional skills and values. The whiskies they distil on site are being laid down, and will be released in due course. Their spacious café and shop at John o’Groats is filled with light from the Pentland Firth. There you can buy their carefully blended Seven Sons releases, decorate your own bottle of their Five Ways Liqueur for yourself or as a gift, and find out more about their whiskies and distilling process.
They offer a range of tours from short introductions for whisky newbies, to longer tours for connoisseurs.
You cannot visit these last two, but you can certainly try their drinks, and you may meet them at the local Highland Games and other events.
Crofter siblings Iain, Elizabeth and Jacquie Black founded their small batch distillery in 2018, creating their initial experimental runs in pot stills on their Aga. They still hand pick local botanicals for their Gins, Vodka and Rums, distil the spirit on the croft, and bottle and label the bottles themselves. They are very much a family team – look out for the “Gin Dug” (an adorable chocolate Labrador) in their social media feeds. They don’t have a shop or do tours, but you can meet them at events, and buy their whisky at JA Mackay’s and Bin Ends, and other local shops.
The name “Hellsmouth” comes from the old nickname for the Pentland Firth, the treacherous stretch of water between Caithness and Orkney. The name is well chosen! The Rum Liqueur was created in 2019 by a diver and wreck-researcher created a as a side project to his main work researching, photographing and documenting the shipwrecks around Caithness. Their liqueurs are made from spiced rums and from whisky, and are delicious over ice – or ice cream – and you can buy them in local shops and at Caithness events.
Caithness is home to great snacks, too! Shore Seaweed was another great idea launched during the pandemic in 2020. Their chips are made from good things like Quinoa and Maize, and the savoury flavour comes from the seaweed harvested in Wick – bringing minerals antioxidants and iodine to your snacks.
Take the children to see the animals at Geise Farm – they have highland cows, alpaca, meercats, as well as sheep, goats, geese, ducks and cats. And while you are there, you can see the lost distillery of Geise, tucked away on the Burn. It was only operational for a couple of years in the 1850s, but the walk is a wonderful way to get a glimpse of hidden Caithness.
When we first moved to Caithness, I always hoped someone would restore the ruined mill buildings at Castletown, on the edge of Dunnet Bay. In 2020 Martin and Claire Murray – the creators of Rock Rose gin – took ownership of the building. Whisky is a while in the waiting. Their locally distilled whisky started its life in 2023, with the harvest of local barley, distillation will start in the building in 2025, and the first releases will towards the end of the decade. You cannot visit the building yet, but you can find out more here.
A true home of Highland Hospitality, Mackays Hotel has been run by the same family for over 60 years. Murray Lamont is a whisky aficionado, and his team will expertly guide you through their whisky tasting, whether you want to focus on Caithness, or sample Highland, Island and Speyside malts. Or try their gin tasting experience, sampling some of Scotland’s most innovative gins.
You can drop into the shops at these distilleries during their opening hours. But tastings and tours are best booked online. Age limits apply.
This last one is an audio tour, and suitable for children too.
Stockists
Please drink responsibly, alcohol really does ruin lives. Tours are for over eighteens only.
Scotland has a zero tolerance for drinking and driving, so when you go on a tasting and tour, you’ll be offered the driver’s dram to to enjoy later.
My name is Ben and I fell in love with Caithness when I first came here in 2017. Since then, I have made my home here and opened a holiday cottage to share this place with others.
The people who grow up in Caithness have strong local roots and great local pride. You can taste this in everything they make. Be sure to visit the brewery or take at least one of these distillery tours on the NC500 as part of your trip.
I am a human, and these words are mine, and not written by AI. Last updated July 2024
