The Cabrach Distillery: A Community Revives an Old Smuggling Land
The Cabrach at a glance
| Region | Highland/Speyside border (The Cabrach, Moray) |
| Founded | 2024 |
| Owner | The Cabrach Trust (community) |
| Visitor centre | Yes — heritage centre & café |
| Tours | Heritage & distillery tours (phased) |
| Opening | Open (phased since 2024), booking — check the website |
| Website | cabrachtrust.org |
Overview
The Cabrach Distillery, in the remote uplands on the Moray/Aberdeenshire border, is a community distillery with a mission: to revive a district that was once the illicit-whisky heartland of the north, and whose population all but vanished. Run by the Cabrach Trust, it pairs a working distillery with a heritage centre telling the story of the smuggling era.
The history
The Cabrach was famous in the 18th and 19th centuries for its illicit stills, the smugglers’ whisky carried out over the hills to the towns. Depopulated and long silent, the district got its distillery back when the Cabrach Trust opened a heritage centre and distillery in 2024, aiming to bring life and jobs back to the glen.
The water & the land
The Cabrach draws on local hill water at Inverharroch Farm, in the upper Deveron catchment (the exact named source is not yet published).
The Cabrach had no founding clan in the usual sense, but the district was historic Gordon (Dukes of Gordon) country — wild upland ground that made it perfect for the illicit distillers it now commemorates.
Visiting
The Cabrach has a heritage centre and café, with distillery tours phased in since 2024 — booking advised; check the website. Its remoteness is the point — this is the real smuggling country of Scotch legend.
Nearby & more whisky
- Down into whisky-town Speyside: Dufftown
- The other great smuggling glen: The Glenlivet
- The whole picture: Scotch whisky — the full guide
Sources
- The Cabrach Trust; Whisky Magazine.