Jura Distillery: The Whisky of a Wild Island

Overview

Jura is the whisky of one of Scotland’s wildest and emptiest islands — a long, mountainous neighbour to Islay with more red deer than people and the three great peaks of the Paps of Jura along its spine. The distillery, and almost the whole population, cluster in the single village of Craighouse, and the malt is a gentle, oily, nutty and maritime island style.

The history

There was distilling at Craighouse from around 1810, but Jura’s modern story is one of revival: the distillery fell silent for decades and the island’s population dwindled, until two local landowners rebuilt it in 1963 expressly to bring jobs and people back to Jura. That community purpose still defines it — the distillery is the heart of the island.

The water & the land

Jura’s water comes from Loch a’Bhaile Mhargaidh, the “Market Loch”, a hill loch above Craighouse on the island’s east side.

The distillery sits on land historically held by the island’s lairds, the Campbells — Clan Campbell. There is a nicely bitter clan footnote: when the old distillery lay silent, a laird named Colin Campbell is said to have had the roof stripped off in 1920 to avoid paying rates on it — part of the long decline the 1963 rebuild finally reversed. Jura also has a famous literary connection: George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four in a remote farmhouse at the island’s north end.

Visiting

Jura has a visitor centre and runs daily tours and tastings, which should be booked (it’s worth phoning ahead given the island’s remoteness). It generally opens Monday to Friday, around 10–4, closed at weekends; check the website. Reaching Jura means crossing Islay first and taking the small ferry over the Sound — part of the adventure.

Nearby & more whisky

• Across the Sound on Islay: Caol Ila
• The island’s lairds: Clan Campbell
• The whole picture: Scotch whisky — regions, distilleries & the oldest of all

Sources

• Jura distillery — Wikipedia.
• Jura / Whyte & Mackay; Walkhighlands.