200 Years In, Fettercairn Distillery Is Still Keeping It Local

It became clear, while exploring the Fettercairn grounds on a particularly damp, grey afternoon, that this would not be a typical distillery story. Rather, it would be a winding tale of embracing innovation and forging into the future. For this is not a house that rests on its laurels, nor one that follows tradition for tradition’s sake. Sir Alexander Ramsay, who founded the distillery in 1824, was himself a pioneer — one of a group of Scottish landowners who originally fought for legal whisky distillation licensing. Yet he was also the man who went on to hire illegal whisky makers to be his first stillmen, knowing that their experience would likely guarantee his brand’s success. Fettercairn’s next owners, the Gladstone family, were similarly groundbreaking, and played a pivotal role in abolishing taxes on whisky.

Fast-forward to the 1950s, and the distillery saw perhaps its most significant advancement to date — one that continues to impact every Fettercairn whisky to this day. While attempting to modify the condensation process within the stills, the team discovered that pouring water down the side of the stills changed the resulting distillate, giving it a lighter, more delicate character. From there, the brand developed its signature cooling rings that sit atop the stills, dousing the copper to ensure only the lightest of vapours rise to the top. And it is this practice, alongside meticulous cask selection, the use of locally sourced spring water, and the thoughtful hand of master whisky maker Gregg Glass, that combine to produce the distinct, complex, and tropical character for which Fettercairn has become known.

But this was by no means the end of innovation and experimentation at Fettercairn and, in recent years, there has been a clear desire to do things differently. On one hand, the brand has introduced an approach similar to how winemakers approach terroir or “single estate” production. All of its barley is grown and malted within a 50-mile radius of the distillery, for example, and you’ll notice the rather uncommon use of Scottish oak barrels in the Fettercairn 18 Year Old’s finishing process. These barrels are made by a Speyside cooper using only fallen trees, but the distillery has been growing its own “Fettercairn Forest” for more than a decade — 13,000 white oak saplings that, in a century’s time, will yield a sustainable source of Scottish oak. But whisky has always been a long game, and Fettercairn, a distillery celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2024, knows this more than most.

The mounting decades have afforded time for experimentation, and local oak casks aren’t the only unorthodox vessels found within Fettercairn’s 40 warehouses. In fact, the brand’s Warehouse series of expressions has been known to make use of more than its fair share of odd finishing casks, including those formerly used to age rum, red wine, cognac, and even barrels borrowed from local breweries.

As expected, an anniversary as momentous as a 200th requires a suitably exclusive expression with which to celebrate. In this case, Fettercairn is launching a bottle that promises to demonstrate both its enduring vision for the future and its deference for the past. Details are scarce at the moment, but we do know that only 10 six-bottle sets will be produced, of which only one is heading to Canada. But one thing is for certain — having spent a day sampling unique whiskies during our time at the distillery, we’re mighty excited to see what’s to come.

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