Glenwyvis Distillery

Scotland’s first community-owned distillery is also the first to be 100% powered by renewable energy.

When John McKenzie retired from the army in 2002 he returned to his hometown of Dingwall and became a commercial helicopter pilot, flying VIPs and film crews across Scotland. It was during these many flights he came upon the idea of opening his own whisky distillery. Many clients were headed to the golf course, or remote distilleries on Jura, Islay or Orkney for exclusive tours, during which McKenzie learned to appreciate whisky. With a dream to breathe life back into the rural Dingwall community, in 2011 he began looking into the possibility more seriously. McKenzie already owned several acres of farmland, as well as a wind turbine, and having worked on the board of a local wind energy cooperative, he ban considering how to crowdfund Scotland’s first community-owned distillery. Planning permission for GlenWyvis distillery – an amalgamation of the lost distillery names Ben Wyvis and Glenskiach, both of which closed in 1926 – came in 2014, on McKenzie’s 40th birthday. The following year McKenzie launched GlenWyvis Gin (produced at Saxa Vord distillery in Unst) from a helicopter, the label for which carried details about how investors could get involved with the new distillery. On 16 April 2016 GlenWyvis launched its first crowdfunding campaign. Its goal was to reach £1.5m, but by the close it had reached just over £2m. The build began in January 2017, and was completed by November the same year. GlenWyvis distillery officially opens on 30 November 2017, and begins its commissioning process (running the mash, fermenters and stills) in the next few weeks. While some shareholders will receive a bottle of three-ear-old whisky, its first commercially-available single malt won’t be released ‘until the whisky reaches optimum maturity’. GlenWyvis’ new gin still will be installed in 2018, bringing production of its gin in-house, a majority decision made by the distillery’s 3,000 shareholders.