North Uist Distillery, Benbecula: Bere Barley Whisky at Nunton

Overview

Despite the name, North Uist Distillery stands at Nunton Steadings on Benbecula, the island between North and South Uist. The founders grew up on North Uist and built their name on Downpour Gin, named Scottish Gin Distillery of the Year in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Whisky came next: the first new make ran on 9 December 2024, and casks have been filling since Hogmanay 2024. There is no single malt to buy yet; the team is aiming for around three and a half years in cask before the first release.

Where it is

Nunton lies on the west side of Benbecula, a short walk from the white sand of Culla Bay and a few minutes from Balivanich and Benbecula airport. Causeways join Benbecula to North Uist and South Uist, so you can drive the whole chain. The ferries from Uig on Skye (to Lochmaddy) and from Mallaig (to Lochboisdale) both bring you within an easy drive.

Address: North Uist Distillery, Nunton Steadings, Benbecula HS7 5LU.

The full history

Gin first

Co-founders Kate MacDonald and Jonny Ingledew came home to the islands with the aim of bringing legal whisky distilling back to Uist. Accounts differ on the start date (2017 in one interview, 2019 in CalMac’s listing). Gin paid the bills first. Downpour uses island botanicals such as heather, pepper dulse seaweed and wild thyme, foraged by local people and traded for gin, an old island habit of barter.

Nunton Steadings

The company bought the steadings in 2020. The farm buildings date from the early 1700s and stand on the site of a medieval nunnery, which gave Nunton its name. Nunton was a seat of the MacDonalds of Clanranald, and the steadings are linked to Bonnie Prince Charlie’s flight after Culloden in 1746. The warehouse wing was once the stables and still has its original cobbles.

Whisky at last

A cask sale funded the whisky, and CalMac calls it “the fastest cask sale in Scotch whisky history”. Distillation began in December 2024. Olivia Gibson joined from Arran as distiller in April 2025. While its own spirit matures, the distillery has bottled bought-in whisky under a Guest House label, including a Dailuaine single cask finished at its Lochcarnan warehouse; it sold out. The distillery is a certified B Corp and now employs about twelve people.

How it’s made

This is a very small distillery, making roughly 400 casks a year. Mashing feeds five wooden washbacks of about 2,850 litres each. The spirit still holds 2,000 litres and is usually charged with 1,600. The stills are squat, with downward-pointing lyne arms, so they fit under the low ceilings of the old steadings.

The core grain is bere barley, the old island barley, grown by crofters on the Uist machair. Bere copes with short seasons and poor, acidic soil but gives lower yields. The long-term aim is an all-bere mash. Other heritage barleys include Maris Otter, Chevallier and Golden Promise. Malting is still done on the mainland for now, though a malting plant at Nunton is planned.

A peated spirit at about 25 ppm is made for a month or two each year. Most casks so far are first-fill bourbon, with some sherry hogsheads, quarter casks, virgin oak and small octaves. About 200 casks mature at Lochcarnan on South Uist.

Clans & the land

This is Clanranald country, a branch of Clan MacDonald that held Benbecula and South Uist for centuries. Flora MacDonald, who took the Prince “over the sea to Skye” in 1746, was from South Uist, and Clanranald’s household at Nunton helped with his escape. Round the distillery are the machair, the lochans of Benbecula and the Atlantic beaches of the west coast. See our clans guide.

Visiting

The visitor centre at Nunton Steadings opens seven days a week in summer. Tours run twice a day and include a tasting of the Downpour range and the new-make spirit. The Downpour shop has a refill station, so bring your empty bottle. The Island Life Bar serves cold drinks in the courtyard. Hours are seasonal, so check northuistdistillery.com before you go, then walk down to Culla Bay afterwards.

Nearby distilleries

• Isle of Harris: at Tarbert, via the Berneray–Leverburgh ferry, maker of Hearach and Isle of Harris Gin.
• Abhainn Dearg: at Uig on Lewis, the far west of the Outer Hebrides.
• Talisker: on Skye, across the Minch from Lochmaddy.

Our Skye & Western Isles Whisky Trail links these together. The whisky hub covers every region in Scotland.

Sources

• North Uist Distillery (official site).
• CalMac: North Uist Distillery.
• The Whiskey Wash: building its first whisky one cask at a time.
• Whisky Magazine: first distillation of new make.