Arbikie Distillery is one of a kind, a sustainable whisky distillery. It’s a single estate, farm to bottle distillery with sustainability at its very core.

Their circular economy means that provenance and traceability is visible at every step in the process from the soil, the seeds, the harvest to the by product and waste that is returned to the land as cattle feed.

This is Scotland’s most sustainable distillery, if not the world!

ARBIKIE HIGHLAND ESTATE WHISKY, GIN & VODKA DISTILLERY, MONTROSE, ANGUS

On a hill above Lunan Bay is where you will find Arbikie Highland Estate and Distillery. The estate is a working farm were all the ingredients for Arbikie spirits are sown, grown and harvested - rye, wheat, peas, potatoes and malting barley in the fields to juniper and various botanicals in the polytunnel. And of course they need honey, so they keep their own beehives too!

Renovated from the remains of an old cattle barn overlooking Lunan Bay, Arbikie are the first single-estate distillery to distil all their spirits in the same copper pot stills, with the vodka and gin spirit continuing their journey to their 40 plate distillation column. This distillation process means all their spirits reflect the traditional Scotch whisky method. The distilling team is led by Master Distiller, Kirsty Black and Christian Perez.

In the spirit production, Arbikie use their own water for distillation; they grow their own produce to use in the whisky, gin or vodka which is kept track of via a very high tech map inside the distillery showing you which field each crop being used came from; and distillation co-products being returned to their fields as natural fertilisers or being fed to their highland cattle.

Arbikie are also home to the World’s first Scottish Rye Whisky in over 100 years. Unlike single malt, single grain whiskies do not need to be made using just malted barley. In fact, other cereals such as wheat, corn or rye can also be used. At Arbikie, they use rye, wheat and barley to make their Highland Rye Whiskies.

They currently have 4 whiskies available

• Arbikie 1794 Highland Rye 2020 - matured in new American Oak.

  ON THE PALATE: Cinnamon, allspice and a spicy burst tempered by sweet muscovado sugar and fresh honey
  ON THE NOSE: Fresh cloves, nutmeg, Christmas cake spices, thyme, earthy notes, creamy butterscotch

• Arbikie Highland Rye Release 2 - first fill in new American oak and finished in Armagnac.

  ON THE PALATE : Dates, Apricot, Caraway
  ON THE NOS E: Maple syrup, spice

• Arbikie 1792 Highland Rye 2021 - matured in virgin oak casks.

  ON THE PALATE : Black Tea, Caraway, Fresh Honey

  ON THE NOSE : Fresh Cloves, Pipe Tobacco, Caraway, Leather

• Arbikie 1792 Highland Rye 2022 - new charred American Oak casks.

  ON THE PALATE : Carrot Cake, Charred Oak and Nutmeg

  ON THE NOSE : Forest berries, Black tea and Caramel.

There are five vodkas available : Tattie Bogle (a Scottish Scarecrow), Haar, Strawberry, Chilli and Nadar Climate Change Vodka.

Their Nadar range of gin and vodka is ground breaking not only in that they use the humble pea to ferment and make into alcohol, but with a carbon footprint of -1.54kg CO2e per 700ml bottle of gin and - >1.53kg CO2e per 700ml bottle of vodka, Nàdar is at the forefront of fighting climate change and biodiversity loss, avoiding more carbon emissions than it produces. Impressed??!

The Nadar Vodka has a vibrant and spicy taste alongside a contrasting floral nose whilst the gin brings with it lemongrass and ginger.

Like most distilleries, Arbikie host tastings. A took the Gin and Vodka Experience where you get to choose which three spirits you would like to taste and the ambassador leads you through it. You get your hands on ingredients and botanicals as well as sampling the spirits themselves.

I chose the Arbikie Strawberry Vodka, Kirsty’s Gin and Nadar Gin.

They also have whisky and cocktail making experiences too.

You’ll also find a lovely cafe here taking in that incredible view down to Lunan Bay. They serve up hot meals, cakes and coffees and you are most welcome just to visit the cafe or shop.

Whether you are distillery bagging or just popping in for a coffee, do pop down and say hello to the Gals - the Highland Coos all named after the botanicals in their gin! I tried called for Juniper but they all just looked at me for 3 seconds, then went back to eating the grass!

Arbikie is another great distillery but its fascinating to see and understand the whole sustainable process, knowing that what you are drinking was planted and grown only a few feet away from the pot stills.

THINGS TO NOTE :

• Free parking and bike parking with two electric vehicle plug points available

• Disabled friendly and wheelchair accessible. Doors are wide, accessible toiley and the whole distillery is on the one level

• Not dog friendly but assistance dogs are welcome

Arbikie Highland Estate Distillery, Drumbertnot Farm, Lunan, DD10 9TR www.arbikie.com