8 Doors Distillery, John O’Groats: The Most Northerly on the Mainland

Overview

8 Doors is the most northerly distillery on the Scottish mainland. It stands at John o’ Groats in Caithness, looking out over the Pentland Firth to Orkney. It was founded by a local couple, Kerry and Derek Campbell, who began the project in 2020. The first spirit ran in September 2022. On 2 August 2023 King Charles III officially opened it and helped fill a sherry cask with new make spirit. The distillery says it is making the first legal whisky in John o’ Groats since an earlier distillery closed in 1837.

Its name comes from the village’s founding legend. A Dutchman, Jan de Groot, is said to have built an eight-sided house with eight doors so that each of his eight quarrelling sons could enter by his own door and sit at an octagonal table with no head.

Where it is

The distillery is on the edge of John o’ Groats, the village at the north-east tip of mainland Britain, 876 miles by road from Land’s End. Wick is about 17 miles south and Thurso about 20 miles west. Inverness is about 120 miles, roughly 2 hours 45 minutes on the A9 and A99. In summer, passenger ferries cross from the harbour to Orkney.

The full history

Caithness whisky

Caithness was once full of small distilleries and illicit stills, using barley from its flat, fertile farmland and peat from the Flow Country. Most closed in the 19th century. By the late 20th century, Old Pulteney in Wick was the county’s only distillery. Then Wolfburn at Thurso reopened in 2013, and 8 Doors made three.

A local couple’s project

Kerry and Derek Campbell, both from Caithness, began planning in 2020. They wanted a distillery that would bring jobs and visitors to the far north. The building was designed around a visitor centre where people can see the two copper stills. Water comes from a borehole drilled 60 metres down through the old red sandstone. The first spirit ran in September 2022.

The King’s visit

King Charles, who knows the area well from his grandmother the Queen Mother’s home at the Castle of Mey nearby, opened 8 Doors on 2 August 2023. Since then the distillery has offered shares to the public. Its first whisky is maturing, and gin and spirit drinks are available in the meantime.

How it’s made

8 Doors is a small craft distillery with one wash still and one spirit still on show behind glass in the visitor centre. It uses deep borehole water, and the spirit is filled into a range of casks, including sherry casks, and matured in the salt-laden air of the Pentland Firth.

Clans & the land

• Clan Sinclair, the Earls of Caithness, ruled the county for five centuries. Their spectacular cliff-top ruin, Castle Sinclair Girnigoe, stands near Wick. The Castle of Mey, 6 miles west of John o’ Groats, was built by the Sinclairs and restored by the Queen Mother after 1952. It is open to visitors in summer.
• Clan Mackay held Strathnaver to the west and fought the Sinclairs and Sutherlands for centuries.
• The Norse. Caithness was part of the Norse earldom of Orkney for centuries, which shows in many of its place names.
• Keiss Castle, 10 miles south, is a ruined Sinclair tower on the cliffs.

Churches, stones & brochs

• Canisbay Church, 2 miles west: the Queen Mother worshipped here, and a gravestone of the de Groot family is set in the wall.
• Caithness brochs: the county has more Iron Age broch towers than anywhere else. The Caithness Broch Project has worked with 8 Doors on a special release.
• Achavanich standing stones, the Grey Cairns of Camster and the Hill o’ Many Stanes are all within 30 miles. See our standing stones guide.
• Whaligoe Steps: 365 steps down a sheer cliff to an old herring harbour.

Lochs & the coast

Duncansby Head, 2 miles east, has its lighthouse and the sea stacks of Duncansby, with huge seabird colonies in summer. Dunnet Head, 12 miles west, is the true northernmost point of mainland Britain. Inland there are trout lochs, including St John’s Loch at Dunnet and Loch Watten. See our lochs guide and our Caithness page.

Visiting

8 Doors has a visitor centre and tasting room with tours that show the stills and the process. Book ahead at 8doorsdistillery.com. Combine it with Duncansby Head, the Castle of Mey and the ferry to Orkney.

Nearby distilleries

• Old Pulteney, Wick (about 17 miles): the “maritime malt”, with tours.
• Wolfburn, Thurso (about 20 miles).
• Highland Park and Scapa, Kirkwall, by ferry to Orkney.

The Far North Whisky Trail and Orkney Whisky Trail join them up, and the whisky hub covers every region.

Sources

• 8 Doors distillery — Wikipedia.
• 8 Doors: our story.
• Caithness Broch Project.
• John O’Groat Journal.