Scapa Distillery

Overview

Scapa distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery situated on The Mainland of Orkney, Scotland on the shore of Scapa Flow near the town of Kirkwall. Scapa is the second most northern whisky distillery in Scotland, being half a mile farther south than the Highland Park Distillery.

The distillery has one wash still and one spirit still producing a single malt whisky. It is an especially honey flavoured whisky, and less peaty than most Island Whiskies. This is because, though the water at the source is peaty, it gets transported to the distillery through pipelines to avoid more contact with the peat. Furthermore, the malt is not dried over peat smoke.

Details

Owner" Owner: Pernod Ricard
Location" Location: Scapa Distillery, St Ola, Kirkwall, KW15 1SE, UK UK of GB & NI - Scotland
Visitor Centre but booking recommended Visit Type: Vistor Centre, but booking recommended
Co-ordinates" Co-ordinates: 58.963665, -2.995825
Telephone" Telephone: +44 (0) 1856 873 269
Email" Email: admin.scapa[at]pernod-ricard.com
Web" Web: http://scapawhisky.com/ external_link_dark
Twitter" Twitter: Scapa Distillery (@ScapaDistillery)

Map

History

The distillery, founded in 1885 by Macfarlane & Townsend, was during the 1950s acquired by Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd (now part of Pernod Ricard) and rebuilt. In 1994 it was mothballed, and faced definitive closure in 2004. During that period, the most commonly available edition was the Scapa 12 years old, which was and still is a most distinctive island whisky for its subtle heathery honey plus sea taste. Still, it was decided to rebuild/restore the distillery, and the first new spirit in 10 years flowed in November 2004. Because of the time-gap, it was decided to stop the 12 years and introduce the 14 years, which is quite different from its predecessor, even though the basic characteristics are intact.

The 14-year expression of the Scapa offering has been given fair-to-good reviews at international spirit ratings competitions. It won gold and double gold medals at the 2005 and 2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competitions, but received a more modest score of 85 (on a 100-point scale) in 2005 from the Beverage Testing Institute.

In November 2009, Scapa was re-launched as a 16 years old whisky, with an extra two years in first fill American oak casks.

Nearby Locations

LocationDistanceDirection
Highland Park Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland1.56 milesE
J. Gow Rum Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland6.49 milesSSE
Ring of Brodgar UK of GB & NI - Scotland8.73 milesWNW
Skaill House UK of GB & NI - Scotland13.44 milesWNW
Skara Brae UK of GB & NI - Scotland13.64 milesWNW
Wolfburn Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland32.20 milesSW
Pulteney Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland36.65 milesS
Clynelish Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland72.13 milesSSW
Glenmorangie Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland87.80 milesSSW
Balblair Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland88.66 milesSSW
Glenglassaugh Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland89.23 milesS
Glen Moray Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland92.09 milesS
BenRiach Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland94.19 milesS
BenRomach Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland95.95 milesSSW
Knockdhu Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland97.17 milesS
Dallas Dhu Historic Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland97.46 milesSSW
Strathisla Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland97.87 milesS
The Dalmore Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland98.99 milesSSW
Glen Grant Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland99.36 milesS
The Macallan Distillery UK of GB & NI - Scotland102.06 milesS
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Scapa distillery, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.Information correct as of 12/07/2020

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