Spirits · Tarbolton, Ayrshire, Scotland
Lochlea Distillery
An Ayrshire farm distillery making single malt from barley grown on its own fields.
- Founded
- 2018
- Founded by
- Neil McGeoch
- Based in
- Tarbolton, Ayrshire, Scotland
Making it since
2018
Their story
Lochlea is a farm distillery near Tarbolton in Ayrshire, in southwest Scotland. Owner Neil McGeoch worked in his family's clothing business while raising cattle, and bought the 222-acre Lochlea farm in 2006. The poet Robert Burns lived and worked this same land from 1777 to 1784.
McGeoch planted his first experimental field of malting barley in 2015. Distillery construction began in 2017, it was commissioned in 2018, and the first Lochlea single malt was released in 2021. Production is overseen by John Campbell, formerly distillery manager at Laphroaig.
How it's made
Lochlea grows and distills only its own barley, and plans to malt it on site. The spirit runs through two custom Forsyths copper pot stills with long necks and fairly straight lyne arms.
Why we carry them
We love a true farm-to-glass Scotch, and Lochlea is one of the few. It is a great pick for anyone curious about newer Scottish distilleries.
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