Plans that were submitted towards the end of 2021 for a new highland distillery on the south bank of the Dornoch Firth have been given the go ahead by Highland Council.
The plans submitted were for a new Midfearn Distillery on Midfearn Estate at Easter Fern. This site is close to where whisky was first produced more than 200 years ago. In 1798 a local businessman named George Ross established Midfearn Distillery but it closed down after a few years in operation. The Midfearn Estate comprises 13,000 acres and has been owned by the Brooke family since 1893.
“I’m proud of our proposals to reintroduce whisky-making to Midfearn after a gap of more than 200 years. The new Midfearn Distillery will create around 25 jobs for local people in the early years, make a meaningful contribution to the local economy and, of course, produce excellent whisky that we hope will be enjoyed around the world for many years to come.“ ~ Charlie Brooke, the current custodian of the estate
The Midfearn Distillery Company Limited will build and run a whisky distillery which includes warehousing, a bottling facility, tank farm, energy centre and additional infrastructure for running a distillery.
The Midfearn Distillery Company has employed Michael Laird Architects for the project and for project design and management they are using Blyth & Blyth, The Paul Hogarth Company, Scott Hobbs Planning, Allen Associates and ITPEnergised. Construction is planned to begin in 2023 and they are aiming to complete the project in 2025 which lines up their single malt hitting shelves in 2030.
