R&B Distillers Plan New Distillery For Quiet Scottish Region

Scotland’s R&B Distillers, which regular readers of this site may recognize as the driving force behind the planned opening of a new distillery on a somewhat remote Scottish island, is looking to delve even deeper into bringing distilling to out of the way locations in their homeland. Now the word is they are seeking input on where to drop a new whisky making operation in the Borders region, which would reportedly be the first of its kind there since 1837.

The Scottish Borders region, prior to the merger of Scotland and England back in the 1700s, “was a lawless territory suffering from the repeated raids in each direction of the Border Reivers” that served as the frontier between the two once independent nations. Today it is mostly just remote, pastural countryside with a small population base. R&B believes there to be great whisky making opportunity in this area, noting that

driven by a desire to make whiskies of uncommon provenance, we’re of the firm belief that the Scottish Borders is an ideal location for a whisky distillery.

To help in choosing exactly which area this new distillery will go in, an online poll has been setup to allow the interested to vote on a range of places. These include popular Border destinations such as the Tweed Valley, Peebles, Kelso, Melrose, Galashiels, Selkirk, and Eyemouth. There was no mention of how long this poll would be open for.

“It’s really quite remarkable that somewhere as iconic as the Scottish Borders has remained untouched by whisky distilling for such a long time,” said R&B Distillers co-founder Alasdair Day in a statement. “Just like whiskies from the Highlands, Speyside, or Islay, a small batch whisky distilled in the Borders will have its own unique flavour, informed by the provenance and terroir of the region. We’re incredibly excited to be asking whisky lovers from around the world ‘the big question’ and crowd sourcing opinion on where a Borders distillery would be best placed. It’s time to get the Borders back on the whisky map!”

Day is said to have a historical connection to the Borders region, with his great-grandfather being a whisky blender in the region in the early 1900s. In honor of this the modern day Day created The Tweeddale whisky, which is the name of his great-grandfather’s original small batch, blended Scotch.

It looks to be a few years before this planned Borders distillery will see much actual activity, as most of the focus for now will remain on the previously mentioned island operation. If all goes according to plan, that location will open in early 2017, followed by “the inaugural outturn of Raasay whisky due to be ready by 2020.”