Wolfburn

William Smith founded a distillery on the outskirts of Thurso in 1821 and named it after the Wolf Burn, the stream it drew from. The company says early nineteenth-century tax records show it as the largest distillery in Caithness, producing 28,056 gallons of proof spirit (about 125,000 litres) in 1826. ScotchWhisky.com says the Smith family ran it until 1837 and that David Smith worked it for one year in 1852; the company says it stayed with the family until at least the 1850s. The 1872 Ordnance Survey map shows it in ruins.

In May 2011 a small team went looking for the old site and found little more than a pile of stones. They bought land downstream in May 2012, broke ground in August, and ran the first spirit on Burns Night, 25 January 2013. The owners, Aurora Brewing, are described by ScotchWhisky.com as a private consortium.

Thurso is on the north coast of Caithness, which the company calls the most northerly town on the British mainland. The new distillery is about 350 m from the ruins of the old one, according to ScotchWhisky.com, and draws on the same water source, the Wolf Burn. It is in the Highland region. The company points to the nearby Flow Country, the large blanket peat bog that became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023, and keeps its warehouses near the sea in Thurso.

The distillery was built by Forsyths of Rothes. Malting is the only stage not done on site; the company uses both unpeated and peated malt. According to ScotchWhisky.com, a 1.1-tonne mash gives clear worts, followed by a long fermentation and distillation in a 5,500-litre wash still and a 3,600-litre spirit still. The wash reaches about 8% ABV and the new make about 65%. Casks are mostly ex-bourbon, with some ex-sherry. The company says there is no automation from milling to bottling, bottles the core range at 46% ABV and does not chill-filter.

ScotchWhisky.com describes the new make as malty, fruity and sweet with a floral hint. The company describes its whisky as smooth and warming, and says it bottles at 46% so that the heavier oils which give the whisky its texture stay in solution without chill-filtration. Core bottlings carry ages of 8, 10 and 12 years.