Meet the Makers

Spirits · Tarbert, Isle of Harris

Isle Of Harris Distillery

A community-minded Hebridean distillery making gin and The Hearach single malt.

Founded
2015
Founded by
Anderson Bakewell
Based in
Tarbert, Isle of Harris

Making it since

2015

Their story

The Isle of Harris Distillery is in Tarbert, the main village on Harris in Scotland's Outer Hebrides. It was the idea of Anderson Bakewell, a musicologist with long ties to the neighboring island of Scarp, who wanted to bring steady jobs to an island whose population was shrinking.

The distillery opened in September 2015 with 10 staff and has since more than doubled. It calls itself a social distillery, run by and for the local community: spent grain feeds local cattle, students get summer work experience, and the visitor center shows local artists.

Isle of Harris Gin and The Hearach, the distillery's lightly peated single malt, are its two main bottlings.

How it's made

The gin is made with nine botanicals chosen to reflect the island. For whisky, the distillery runs two onion-shaped copper stills, and the lightly peated spirit matures on Harris, mostly in ex-bourbon casks with some oloroso sherry butts.

Why we carry them

Isle of Harris Gin is a bottle we love to give, and what is inside is just as good. The Hearach is a fine introduction to island malt.

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