Scapa Distillery, Orkney: Silky and Unpeated by Scapa Flow

Overview

Scapa is Orkney’s quieter, gentler distillery, sitting above the famous naval anchorage of Scapa Flow just outside Kirkwall. In deliberate contrast to its peaty neighbour Highland Park, Scapa is unpeated — silky, honeyed and coastal — and it retains a rare and beautiful old “Lomond” wash still.

The history

Scapa was founded in 1885 by the Glasgow blending firm Macfarlane & Townsend, on the shore of Scapa Flow. During the First World War, with the Grand Fleet anchored in the Flow, sailors reportedly helped fight a fire at the distillery in 1919. It has had a stop-start history and was for years a low-key blending malt, but has more recently been bottled as a single malt and opened up to visitors.

The water & the land

Scapa’s water is the Lingro Burn, which runs down to Scapa Flow near the distillery at St Ola (its exact hill origin is not pinned to one source, but the burn itself is well documented). Being unpeated, Scapa lets that soft water and its unusual still shape show through.

Like Highland Park, Scapa has no clan link — Orkney is Norse earldom country, not Highland clan territory. What it has instead is one of the most extraordinary settings of any distillery: it looks out over Scapa Flow, the great sheltered anchorage of the British fleet in both world wars, where the scuttled German High Seas Fleet still lies on the seabed.

Visiting

Scapa has a visitor centre and runs three tiers of tour and tasting — book ahead; a shuttle runs from Kirkwall. It generally opens daily, around 10–5; check the website. The views over Scapa Flow alone justify the short trip out from Kirkwall.

Nearby & more whisky

• Orkney’s other distillery: Highland Park
• Islands — the region overview
• The whole picture: Scotch whisky — regions, distilleries & the oldest of all

Sources

• Scapa distillery — Wikipedia.
• Scapa / Chivas Brothers; Whiskipedia.