Loch Ewe Distillery is known for housing the smallest legal stills in Scotland, with each still having a capacity of just 120 liters. This makes Loch Ewe a unique distillery in the whisky industry, producing a modest 600 liters of new make spirit per year. The distillery, located in Aultbea on the shores of Loch Ewe in Wester Ross, was founded through a loophole in Scottish law, which was closed immediately after Loch Ewe received its license.
The distillery is modeled after the small, transportable illicit stills once common in the Scottish Highlands, with operations set up in a converted garage adjacent to the Drumchork Lodge Hotel. Despite the small scale, Loch Ewe produces a product called ‘Spirit of Loch Ewe,’ which is bottled after just six weeks of maturation in five-liter casks. Although the distillery occasionally releases three-year-old single malt whisky, the oldest bottling was an eight-year-old whisky released to commemorate the Russian Arctic Convoy.
The story of Loch Ewe begins in 1997 when Frances Clotworthy (née Oates) acquired the Drumchork Lodge Hotel and was inspired by the area’s illicit distilling history. She applied for a license to convert the hotel’s garage into a legal distillery. Although her initial application was denied due to regulations that required stills to have a minimum capacity of 1,800 liters, Frances discovered a loophole in the law. With persistence, she persuaded HMRC to grant her a license in 2003, and Loch Ewe became the smallest legal distillery in the UK, with the loophole being closed immediately after.
Loch Ewe conducted its first distillation on June 20, 2006, with help from Frances’ husband, John Clotworthy, who learned distillation to operate the stills. The distillery has also hosted guests eager to learn the whisky-making process from start to finish.
In 2015, the Clotworthys decided to retire and put the Drumchork Lodge Hotel and Loch Ewe Distillery up for sale. The property is currently under offer.
