Badachro Distillery hopes to kick of whisky production
A Wester Ross distillery is hoping to take the leap and crown its 10th year of activity by kicking off whisky production by the end of the year.
The owners of Badachro Distillery near Gairloch have lodged an application with Highland Council to expand the micro-distillery with the addition of a new still house in a bid to start making their own new-make for the first time.
Gordon and Vanessa Quinn founded Badachro back in 2017 in a bid to make spirits reflecting the Wester Ross flavours, and to bring back some year-round employment in the area.
Although they always had their mind on making whisky, they first started making white spirits with their Badachro Gin and Puffin Vodka.
In a bid to dip their toes into Scotland’s national spirit, they acquired new make and matured spirit from another — unknown — Highland whisky distillery, creating their own independent bottling brand under the name of Bad na h-Achlaise, which has been successful and is now being exported across Europe as well as Canada and Taiwan.
“Vanessa and I have both always had a great interest in whisky and love the idea of making it,” Gordon explained.
“But building a whisky distillery is rather an expensive enterprise! So, given that the whisky business in general reckons that approximately 30 per cent of the flavour of whisky comes from the actual spirit, and the other 70 per cent comes from the casks and from the wood, we decided to make a start in an affordable way. So, we got on the cask management side and in the maturation side of it, where we could have the greatest creative input.”
However, the lingering want to create their own whisky never went away and, after undertaking a lot of courses and training over the past few years, they have decided to take the leap.
All going well they hope to have their first spirit running by the end of 2025.
“It really is a dream becoming true,” said Vanessa, who is the “flavour guru” of the team.
“I’m so excited about developing a new single malt whisky inspired by our local history, community and sense of place.”
Although they are expecting to do a series of test runs before settling on any whisky in particular, the plan is to create a lightly peated and fruity whisky which, according to Gordon, reflects what would have been produced traditionally in the area.
He said: “We've learned a little bit about some of the barley and techniques that were used in the past by illicit distillers, of whom there were a lot around this area back in the old days — and basing it on the records of the flavours, we want to reflect that in our signature spirit.”
The move would make Badachro the only whisky distillery in a vast area, with all the other producers located further north or south, or in Easter Ross.
Gordon said they are hopeful that the plans will go ahead due to the limited size of the new still house — which would be in their own backyard and would measure approximately 5m x 8m.
With an expected annual production volume of around 10,000 litres, Badachro would be one of the smallest — if of the smallest altogether — whisky distilleries in Scotland.
The stills will be made by the Portuguese manufacturer Hoga — the same that provided the stills to the popular Dornoch Distillery and the gin still to Badachro.
“The idea of being the founders of something that will hopefully continue for a long, long time after our time on the planet, is quite special,” he said.
He also hope that the legacy at Badachro will continue to provide jobs for locals. So far the distillery — which also started offering tours last year — has created eight positions and once the whisky production is up and running they hope to take in a young person through an apprenticeship scheme.
“For us, it’s always been about giving back to the community,” he said.
“And about creating a business successful enough that our kids — and other kids — could see as something good to come back to, a motivation to keep young people here. It’s just tragic, to see the flood of talent going away from the area.”
Vanessa and Gordon are also working towards achieving their net zero credentials in a bid to make the distillery more sustainable.
Although the name of the new whisky-to-be is yet to be decided, they said that they are excited for this next chapter in the business.
