In 1821 William Smith founded a distillery on the outskirts of Thurso and named it Wolfburn after the watercourse it drew from, “burn” being the Scots word for stream or small river.
The distillery was constructed from hardy local Caithness flagstone and the remains of its foundations can still be seen today. Smith invested heavily in Wolfburn and it quickly became a significant producer of malt whisky – tax records from the early 19th Century show it being the largest distillery in Caithness. In 1826 its annual production was 28,056 “Total Gallons of Proof Spirt” – roughly 125,000 litres.
After ceasing production in the 1860s, the distillery reopened in 2013 after 157 years. In 2016, the new Wolfburn distillery commenced bottling operations, in a purpose-built on-site bottling facility. The inaugural whisky was launched globally in 2016 and has gone on to win awards in international competitions.
Region: Highland
Area: Caithness
Current Owner: Aurora Brewing
Founded : 1822
Founder : William Smith
No. of wash stills: 1
No. of spirit stills: 1
Capacity (litres): 115,000.00
Website: www.wolfburn.com
English