A major distillery project in Sutherland has secured up to £1.57 million from Highlands and Islands Enterprise, with the funding supporting the development of a new net zero facility in Dornoch.
Struie Distillery is being developed by Dornoch Distillery Company Limited, the business founded in 2016 by brothers Simon and Philip Thompson. The company’s existing distillery operates from a 19th century fire station in the grounds of Dornoch Castle Hotel, where it employs nine people.
The new facility, which will be built on land at Dornoch South, is designed to produce up to 400,000 litres of pure alcohol a year, taking output to more than 10 times current levels. It will also bring together bottling and warehousing, creating room for further growth across the company’s independent bottling, blending and gin operations.
Plans for the site also include a visitor centre, with the business expecting to attract around 15,000 people a year.
At the centre of the project is an ambition to establish Struie as one of the UK’s largest carbon neutral distilleries. The site will run on renewable energy technologies including solar arrays, thermal energy storage and high-efficiency heat pumps, with HIE funding going towards the energy-efficiency elements of the build.
The project is expected to deliver wider benefits for the area too, through the creation of skilled rural jobs, stronger supply chains and a further boost to Dornoch’s appeal as a whisky tourism destination.
Dornoch Distillery Company Limited also includes Dornoch Castle Hotel and the Thompson Bros bottling plant. The development already has planning consent and has attracted strong local support.
The investment comes at a challenging time for the whisky sector and follows recent news of the closure of the Johnnie Walker Experience in Brora at Clynelish Distillery. Against that backdrop, the Struie development points to continued confidence in new distilling capacity in the Highlands.
Claire Wilson, Head of Business Growth with HIE’s Caithness and Sutherland team, said, “We’ve been working with Dornoch Distillery Company for several years now. It’s a company with clear growth potential, particularly in exports, and the ambition to match. This latest project will not only significantly increase the company’s production capacity, it will also position Struie Distillery at the forefront of sustainable whisky production. As such, it has the potential to become an exemplar for the sector’s green transition. I’m delighted we’ve been able to support this exciting project and look forward to seeing the new facility taking shape.”
Simon Thompson, co-founder, said, “With HIEs support towards our innovative energy infrastructure, we hope to demonstrate a path for the Scotch Whisky industry to achieve electrified Net Zero production leveraging market-ready technologies that are cost-competitive with the best natural gas systems. If we can demonstrate the expected energy efficiency and plant reliability, such systems should be a no-brainer for widespread adoption.”
Picture: Simon and Philip Thompson
