Loch Ewe Distillery: The Smallest Legal Stills in Scotland, Once Run From a Hotel

Frances Clotworthy bought the Drumchork Lodge Hotel in Aultbea, on the shore of Loch Ewe in Wester Ross, in 1997. She later found a loophole in the rules governing minimum still capacity, applied for a distilling licence in 2003 and got one before the rule was closed. The first distillation took place on 20 June 2006, and Loch Ewe went on to run the smallest commercial stills of any legal distillery in Scotland. The distillery was put up for sale in 2015 and has since closed.

Loch Ewe at a glance

History of Loch Ewe

The loophole Frances Clotworthy found in the still-capacity rules was closed soon after it was spotted, but her 2003 licence application landed in time to be dealt with under the old terms. Her husband John studied distillation specifically to run the plant once it was licensed. The distillery sat beside the hotel and was folded into the hotel's own hospitality offer rather than run as a separate visitor attraction. In 2015 the hotel and distillery were put up for sale so that the Clotworthys could retire, and the distillery has since closed. The hotel has more recently been marketed as a former hotel in need of major renovation.

How Loch Ewe made its whisky

Two 120-litre stills produced up to 600 litres of new make spirit a year. Most of it was bottled as "Spirit of Loch Ewe" after only six weeks in five-litre casks, far short of the three years required for Scotch whisky, though a three-year-old single malt was also sold once stock had matured that far. An eight-year-old bottling marked the anniversary of the Russian Arctic Convoys, which used Loch Ewe itself as a wartime assembly point. The whisky was described as sweet, with a barley-sugar character and some fruitiness, generally less pronounced than the flavour from larger stills elsewhere.

Loch Ewe and independent bottlers

With an annual output measured in hundreds of litres rather than hundreds of thousands, Loch Ewe was never a name independent bottlers chased. Almost everything made there was sold directly through the hotel.

Loch Ewe and The Single Cask

We don't hold a Loch Ewe cask, and with the distillery closed and its output always tiny, that is unlikely to change. If a small-scale Highland character interests you, get in touch and we'll tell you what comparable stock we hold right now.

Plan a bottling inspired by Loch Ewe

Loch Ewe was as far from an industrial whisky operation as Scotland gets, a hotel-run sideline built on a loophole and 120-litre stills. If scale and story like that appeal to you for your own bottling, start with our whisky casks available page, or read about buying a whisky cask and the four steps to bottling your own whisky. For something under your own name, our private label whisky service covers that end to end. For more on small Highland producers, see our guides to Dornoch and Ardnamurchan.

We hold a wide range of casks to sell to independent bottlers and private customers, drawn from many different distilleries, finished in a variety of wood types from sherry and port casks to bourbon and rum, with real differences in yeast and production style from one distillery to the next. If you are an independent bottler looking for stock, or you have always wanted a cask of your own, talk to us about what we currently hold in the warehouse. Where we don't hold the exact distillery featured in this guide, we say so honestly, and we're usually able to point you toward something close in style from what we do have.

If you have questions about any of this, or about Loch Ewe in particular, our contact page is the fastest way to reach us.

Frequently asked questions

Is Loch Ewe really the smallest distillery in Scotland?

It had the smallest legal commercial stills, two at 120 litres each. Whether it counts as the smallest distillery overall depends on how you define a distillery.

Who ran Loch Ewe distillery?

Frances and John Clotworthy, from the Drumchork Lodge Hotel in Aultbea.

When did Loch Ewe start distilling?

It was licensed in 2003, with the first distillation on 20 June 2006.

Is Loch Ewe distillery still open?

No. It was put up for sale in 2015 and has since closed.

What did Loch Ewe whisky taste like?

A sweet, barley-sugar character with some fruitiness, generally less pronounced than the flavour from larger stills elsewhere.

Does The Single Cask sell a Loch Ewe cask?

No, and with the distillery closed that is unlikely to change. Contact us for comparable Highland stock.