Nc'nean

Annabel Thomas left her job in London in 2013 to start the distillery, and, by the company's account, spent four years raising money and building it from the ground up on the west coast of Scotland. Companies House shows Nc'nean Distillery Limited incorporated on 22 March 2013. Distilling began in 2017, and the first whisky was bottled in 2020: an unpeated organic single malt.

The company says it became a certified B Corporation and, in 2021, the first whisky distillery in the UK verified as net zero for its direct (scope 1 and 2) emissions. The name comes from Neachneohain, a Gaelic goddess the company calls the Queen of Spirits. Companies House records that no person or company holds a registrable controlling stake.

The distillery is at Drimnin, on the Morvern peninsula near Lochaline, on the west coast, in the Highland region. The company uses only unpeated, 100% organic Scottish barley, runs on renewable energy and says it diverts 99.96% of its waste from landfill. It bottles in 100% recycled glass, which it believes was a first in Scotch whisky. The opened sources do not name the water source.

The company says every choice in its set-up aims at a bright, fruity spirit that tastes good young: organic barley, very clear wort, unusual yeast blends, small pot stills and tight cut points. It never uses peat, because peat bogs are carbon sinks. New make is filled at 63.3% ABV, mostly into 200-litre ex-bourbon casks from America or 230-litre STR (shaved, toasted and re-charred) red wine casks from Europe. The Huntress series is given over to experiments, mainly with yeast and fermentation. The distillery also makes a Botanical Spirit, triple distilled from malted barley.

The company describes its first whisky as unpeated, "elegant and fruity", and says its spirit is designed to be ready to drink at three years. It puts the emphasis on flavours made before maturation, in fermentation and distillation, rather than on long ageing. It suggests drinking it with soda, ice and mint as well as neat.