From Dream to Dram a Visit to Kingsbarns Distillery in Fife, Scotland
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● DISTILLERY VISIT From Dream to Dram A visit to Kingsbarns Distillery in Fife, Scotland By Billy Mitchell St Andrews. He formed a company in May 2009 and set about securing the site in Kingsbarns having initially Reclaimed and rebuilt from raised some seed capital. the ruins of an old doocot Kingsbarns Distillery and The derelict East Newhall Farm Visitor Centre on the Cambo Estate stood out clearly (Scots word for dovecot) as the most promising site – with its and cattle barn, the Kings- East Newhall Farm location overlooking the barley fi elds barns Distillery displays the Kingsbarns to the Kingsbarns golf links and North Fife Sea beyond. One of the most striking fi rst cask of the new spirit KY16 8QE architectural features at the distill- – sitting proudly, alone, in www.kingsbarnsdistillery.com ery is the doocot. This was not just built for show – originally its scores the centre of the doocot– a deer and birds of prey to dolphins, of terracotta nesting boxes housed wonderful sight and a great porpoises and seals. The Cambo Es- a fl ock of plump pigeons which sup- tate, located close to the distillery, plied the laird’s kitchen with meat achievement by all involved has the largest collection of snowdrop and eggs. The farm was built around in this new distillery and varieties in Scotland, while the farm- 1800 by Thomas Erskine, the ninth land in the surrounding area along Earl of Kellie, and once serviced visitor centre. with the localised weather patterns, Cambo House and the local estate. provides an ideal combination for y latest excursion into the won- farming high-quality malting barley. Mderful world of Scotch whisky led me through the county of Fife to Distillery history the golfi ng coast south east of St An- The brainchild and co-host for my drews, to Kingsbarns, a village which distillery visit and tour was Douglas lies near the eastern coast of Fife in Clement, a local to the area and an an area known as the East Neuk. Be- ex-professional golf caddy at the tween St Andrews some 6.5 miles to nearby golf links. He is now Founding the north west and Crail 3.6 miles to Director and Visitor Centre Manager. the south, this is a world-renowned Having been bombarded with re- golfi ng area with many challenging quests to visit a local distillery from golf links. The coast is also recog- the many visiting golfers, he was nised as a challenging surfi ng venue inspired to create one – and a visitor and hosts a variety of wildlife from centre – near to the home of golf at 26 ❚ Brewer and Distiller International August 2015 www.ibd.org.uk DISTILLERY VISIT ● Work begins on East Newhall Farm The farm has been very carefully re- May 2013 and was completed in late Installation of the 30 tonne malt silo stored both internally and externally 2014 – in time for the offi cial opening and the attached visitor centre has on St Andrews Day on 30 November, been fi nished off with the use of oak 2014. Whisky production started in throughout – a key link to the distill- early February 2015. ing experience. The original planning application Raw materials was submitted in early 2010 and full Currently two barley varieties– Chron- planning approval was received a year icle and Optic – are grown on Wells- and a half later. Douglas then set green Farm near Windygates and are about raising the millions of pounds transported to the Muntons malt- required to deliver the project. The ings near Bridlington where they are turning point came in late 2012 when malted under a toll malt agreement a £670,000 Food Processing Market- then transported back to the distillery. Malt offl oading through auger ing Co-operation Scheme grant was Kingsbarns distillery processes only secured from the Scottish Govern- un-peated dried malt. Two strains of dried yeast are used ment. Additional capital was still Water is drawn from an aquifer in the fermentation process. Anchor required and the Wemyss family came some 100 metres below the distillery dried yeast from Lallemand, a strain on board, taking over the project – and undergoes iron removal, reverse commonly used in malt distilleries in and turned it into a reality. osmosis (RO) and ultra violet (UV) Scotland, is used in conjunction with a The Wemyss family is one of the sterilisation, depending on whether strain from Fermentis which produces old families in Scotland with a rich it is used as process water, boiler a strong estery note after distillation. history including the Scottish Wars of feed or cooling tower make up, pro- Thermal power to the distillery Independence, the Jacobite uprising, cess cooling water or domestic use. is provided via a 2.7 tonne steam per coal mining and of course, whisky. This abstraction is controlled under hour Cochran Borderer boiler while The family links to the whisky in- an agreed CAR (Controlled Activi- electrical power is provided via con- dustry date back to 1824 when John ties Regulations) licence with SEPA nection to the National Grid. The Haig built his distillery on family land (Scottish Environmental Protection boiler is fuelled by 28 sec Kerosene, in Fife. The original Haig distillery, Agency). a fuel which gives a clean burn to which eventually became the Camer- onbridge Distillery, is located only a few miles from Wemyss Castle near the village of Windygates – your cor- respondent was once General Man- ager of this very large grain distillery! Having the Wemyss family produce the Kingsbarns Lowland Single Malt whisky was an ideal fi t as they were not only connected with the land and the community around the distillery, they already had an established repu- tation in the whisky business as an independent bottler of single cask and blended whiskies. Construction of the distillery and visitor centre began in Steam raising by Cochran boiler Musk Engineering’s semi-lauter tun www.ibd.org.uk Brewer and Distiller International August 2015 ❚ 27 ● DISTILLERY VISIT Distillery manager Peter Holroyd inspects a mash have already passed through and for the fi rst two waters recovered as wort those yet to come. to the fermentation process while the third water is retained as fi rst water Milling and mashing. for the next mash. Thus the process A single 25 tonne lorry-load of malt consists of:- is discharged via a simple chute and • First water: 64°C, 5,000 litres auger arrangement and transferred • Second water: 76°C, 2,500 litres One of the four fermenters, with spirit still and wash/spirit to the single 30 tonne malt silo, which • Third water: 87°C, 5,000 litres condensers in background provides stock for almost one month’s minimise soot and smoke formation. production at current output levels. In order to ensure that clear wort is There is no contingency back up for Each batch of 1.5 tonnes malt is trans- produced on a consistent basis, the either thermal or electrical supplies ferred via a metal removal process fi rst and second waters also include to the site. (magnets) and milled through the a forty-minute rest period followed by Buhler four-roller mill at a rate of 1.0 a thirty-minute period of recirculation The process tonne per hour. Once the 1.5 tonne ca- from and to the lauter tun. The distillery is well balanced in that pacity grist bin has been fi lled, a signal Following extraction of the maxi- a 1.5 tonne mash is processed in a from the load cell automatically shuts mum concentration of fermentable single shift; this mash and respective down the milling process. The Buhler material, the wet draff is discharged mashing water feeds forward to one mill produces grist of fairly normal from the lauter tun and sent to the lo- fermenter which in turn feeds forward distribution of 20 % husk, 70 % grist cal farmer for animal feed. Each mash, to one wash still distillation which and 10 % fl our. including cleaning of the lauter tun then feeds forward to one spirit still The mashing process utilises a and associated pipe work, valves and distillation. The plant is compact and very traditional semi-lauter tun manu- pumps, is completed in the seven to well laid out to ensure that all activi- factured by Musk Engineering. Grist eight hour shift pattern. ties can be controlled on a primarily and mashing water are added to the manual basis by a maximum of two lauter tun via a vortex mixer system to Fermentation operators. This layout also works ex- ensure effi cient hydration of the grist – The clear sugary wort from the mash- tremely well for the many visitors who the three-water mashing process sees ing process is cooled to around 18°C Forsyth’s two stills: spirit (left) and wash (right) The two condensers, with their spirit still and cask fi lling in the background 28 ❚ Brewer and Distiller International August 2015 www.ibd.org.uk DISTILLERY VISIT ● lation. The desired quality for Kings- barns is for a very light spirit, and this is achieved by producing clear worts and slow distillation for both the wash and spirit stills. The spirit cut is taken between 75-69 % ABV with a charge strength of 73.0-73.5 % ABV. This whisky is then reduced to 63.5 % ABV with clean water prior to fi lling into wood. The thermal power to the spirit still is provided through an internal steam coil. Vapours from both the wash and spirit still are condensed in two copper shell and tube condens- ers respectively with low wines, feints, foreshots and the actual spirit cut being collected and redirected to the respective receivers via the spirit safe.