The New Unicorns

Slumbering safely in Octavian vaults beneath the Wiltshire countryside are pallets of Macallan, boxes of Bowmore and Ardbeg by the yard. These illustrious names, founded in 1824, 1779 and 1815 respectively, are worshipped by whisky lovers around the world. But since 2000, over 40 new whisky distilleries have come on stream, from Diageo’s vast 10-million-litre-capacity Roseisle in Speyside to the 20,000-litre Abhainn Dearg on the Isle of Lewis. So the big question is: which of this new brood will join the grand old names of Scotland? What are the unicorns of the future?

To narrow things down, I am only including distilleries that have released whisky. That means leaving out two of the most exciting new ventures: Portintruan, which was founded on Islay by Sukhinder Singh, founder of The Whisky Exchange, and Kythe in Perthshire, which promises “a return to old-style Highland distilling.” Both should come on stream this year, and demand for their end products, when or perhaps if they eventually appear, is likely to be intense.

With so much competition in Scotland, new ventures have to be doing something unusual to make my list such as being single-estate or using heritage barley or other traditional techniques. However they are made, these are all whiskies that major on flavour and should age for decades.

The easiest choice is Daftmill. Already releases from this Fife distillery have assumed mythical status. Started in 2005 by brothers Ian and Francis Cuthbert, it only uses barley from the family farm and distills just twice a year. Demand dramatically outstrips supply, and consequently Daftmill fetches high prices on the secondary market.

Fife, Scotland’s breadbasket, is turning out to be a hotbed of whisky innovation. InchDairnie was founded in 2015 by industry veteran Ian Palmer. It only uses local cereals, and as well as single malts, it also produces pungent, distinctive whiskies based on rye and wheat. Prices are high but so is the quality.

Another farm distillery, Ballindalloch in Speyside, was the long-term dream of the local laird Guy Macpherson-Grant and began filling barrels in 2014. Like Daftmill, only estate-grown barley is used and they only release whisky when it’s ready. The seven-year-old oloroso cask release I tasted last year was impressive. Think vintage Macallan flavour profile but with tiny production, a mouth-watering combination for collectors.

Provenance is all-important in collectible whisky, so I’m going to include Kilchoman’s 100% Islay, made using heritage strains of barley grown on the island. This distillery was only founded in 2005 by the Willis family but already seems like an institution. I’ve also been very impressed with the limited-edition bottlings from Nc’nean, an organic distillery in the West Highlands which began distilling in 2017. Look out for the Huntress range, which uses interesting yeast strains to create whiskies with a rich cereal character.

And my final tip is Ardnamurchan, located way out on the west coast, which was started in 2014 by independent bottler Adelphi. It’s another family business, making a range of peated and unpeated whiskies using old-fashioned long fermentation times. But it’s also bang up to date with blockchain technology to ensure traceability.

These six distilleries all have a strong track record of producing high-quality aged single malts and should be around as long as their illustrious forebears. Though, of course, nothing is certain in Scotch whisky.

Henry Jeffreys is the author of “Vines in a Cold Climate: The People Behind the English Wine Revolution”