Clynelish/Brora
Region: Northern Highlands


Clynelish Distillery was established in 1819 in the coastal fishing and golfing resort of Brora.  It was founded by the Marquess of Stafford, who married the daughter of the Duke of Sutherland.  The distillery was first licensed to James Harper.  The distillery's intent was as a ready market for barley produced by crofters who had been evicted from the inland farms (by the Duke of Sutherland).

It's next lessee was Andrew Ross and then George Lawson in 1846.  Lawson extended the distillery and replaced the stills.  Then, in 1896, the distillery was purchased by James Ainslie and Co.

Soon after the whisky boom around the turn of the century, a collapse in the market became a bane for Ainslie and they barely survived bankruptcy in 1912 when they were bought out by John Risk and the DCL.  Then in 1925, Risk was bought out and became part of DCL. 

Finally, in 1967, a new distillery was built across the road from the old and was also named Clynelish.  The older was closed for a few years until 1975 when it re-opened under the name 'Brora' .  But in 1983, Brora closed for good

Kind of a nutty story, but the SMS is good, and is highly regarded.  Even though it is a Highland malt, it takes on many characteristics of an island malt due to it's proximity to the sea,  no doubt.