Shetland still on course to make history

Construction of Shetland's first legal whisky distillery will begin this autumn following a joint venture between premium spirits maker Blackwood Distillers and entrepreneur Frank Strang.

The distillery, which Blackwood had originally planned to build at Catfirth, near Lerwick (Food Manufacture, February 2006, p12), will now be housed at a former RAF base at Saxa Vord in Unst, the northernmost island in the Shetlands.

Strang, a property developer and former RAF officer who acquired the site from the Ministry of Defence in early April, has leased the supply flight and motor transport section of the camp to Blackwood.

The first whisky should go into barrels in April 2007, said Blackwood's founder Caroline Whitfield.

She is now considering shifting Blackwood's Scottish gin production from the mainland to Catfirth, where the company's finance and customer services offices are located. Botanical products for the gin, such as angelica, could also be harvested there, she added.

The first Shetland whisky will not be available until 2010 at the earliest. Legally, it must mature for at three years and a day.