Outline plans for a new malt distillery beside the Dornoch Firth have been lodged with Highland Council in a bid to revive production in the area where whisky was first made more than 200 years ago.
The familly-owned Midfearn Distillery Company proposes to build its distillery on the Midfearn Estate at Easter Fearn, three miles south-east of the village of Ardgay on a site close to where whisky was first produced more than 200 years ago.
A public consultation is due to begin following submission of a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) to the council’s planning department. An initial face-to-face event will take place at Edderton Village Hall on Wednesday December 1, with supporting information available online from Friday November 19. A further virtual consultation will be held on Thursday January 20, including a live chat facility.
After completion of the consultation process, the company would be cleared to submit a detailed planning application.
Whisky was first made at Midfearn more than 200 years ago. The Easter Fearn site is close to what is believed to be the location of the Midfearn Distillery established in 1798 by local businessman George Ross. This closed after a few years in operation and Ross went on to work with other local distilling interests.
The 13,000-acre Midfearn Estate has been in the Brooke family since 1893. The current custodian, Charlie Brooke, believes the distillery will be an important development in providing employment and economic benefit to the wider community.
“The Scotch Whisky industry has advanced significantly since the opening of the first Midfearn Distillery and we will not only set out to make a distinctive and high-quality whisky, but we will prioritise environmental sustainability and work towards carbon neutrality at every stage of the project," Mr Brook said.
“This is a family business that will build and grow this enterprise on a beautiful site within the Dornoch Firth National Scenic Area and we look forward to working with the local community to return whisky-making to Easter Fearn, with all the benefits that will bring to the economy of the area.”
Midfearn Estate already provides electricity from existing wind and hydro power projects and the long-term sustainability of its energy source will form an important element of the distillery’s development.
Edinburgh-based abrdn eyes Manchester investment business
SCOTTISH fund management heavyweight abrdn has confirmed it is in talks to buy the Interactive Investor savings platform business in a deal it is thought could be worth around £1.5 billion.
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust ‘optimistic and enthused’ after its 1,072% return
THE £21 billion Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust yesterday flagged “much-needed energy transition” as a key driver of “opportunity” over the next decade and highlighted a major increase in its biotechnology holdings.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel