Torabhaig Distillery: Skye's Second Distillery, 187 Years Later

For 187 years, Talisker was Skye's only distillery. That changed in 2017, when Torabhaig opened at Teangue on the Sleat peninsula as the island's first new licensed distillery since 1830. It is a remarkable gap to close. Most whisky regions in Scotland have added and lost distilleries constantly over the last two centuries, but Skye went without a second one until very recently.

Torabhaig at a glance

History of Torabhaig

The story starts decades before anyone made whisky. Sir Iain Noble secured planning permission for a distillery at Teangue in 2002, but construction did not begin until 2014, when builders set about converting a former farm steading into a working distillery on a budget of around £5 million, with architects Simpson and Brown handling the design. Work finished in 2017. After Noble's death, ownership passed to Mossburn Distillers, a subsidiary of Marussia Beverages, which has run the distillery through its early years of production and release.

Torabhaig's first whisky, the Legacy Series 2017, went on sale in February 2021, and two bottles from that first release went to charity auction the same year. The second expression, Allt Gleann, named after a nearby burn and bottled at 46% ABV, followed in summer 2021. The National Museum of Scotland selected some of it for preservation in 2022, an early vote of confidence in a distillery still finding its feet commercially.

How Torabhaig makes its whisky

Torabhaig runs a fairly traditional setup for a new distillery, with wooden washbacks and two copper stills producing around 500,000 litres a year, but its whiskies lean into a peated character that puts it closer to Talisker's smoky Skye reputation than to a lighter island style. With more than a decade between planning and production, the team had an unusually long runway to make those decisions deliberately rather than in a rush.

Torabhaig and independent bottlers

Production has only run since 2017 and the first whisky came out in 2021, so there is no independent-bottler market for Torabhaig yet. The distillery's own Legacy Series releases remain the main route to trying it, and for now the only one. That will change as stock ages, following the pattern of every other recently founded Scotch distillery.

Torabhaig and The Single Cask

We don't hold a Torabhaig cask. It is too new, and the distillery itself is still releasing what exists. For a smoky alternative you can buy today, our Ben Nevis (Heavily Peated) 8 Year Old (cask 36) is a fair comparison in character, if not in location: a peated Highland malt whose stock we can trace back directly, with a similar smoky profile to the one Torabhaig is building its reputation on.

Plan a bottling inspired by Torabhaig

Torabhaig spent over a decade between planning permission and first spirit, a reminder that patience runs through whisky-making at every stage, well before maturation. If you want to start that process with a cask of your own, begin 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 island and peated distilleries, see our guides to Talisker and Ben Nevis.

We bottle whisky from casks we own ourselves, and we also supply casks to independent bottlers and to private customers who want a bottling under their own name. 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 have in the warehouse. Where we don't hold the distillery featured in a guide, we say so rather than dress something else up as a substitute.

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

Frequently asked questions

Is Torabhaig Skye's second distillery?

Yes. It is the first new licensed distillery on the island since Talisker was established in 1830.

When did Torabhaig release its first whisky?

The Legacy Series 2017, sold from February 2021, followed by Allt Gleann later that year.

Who owns Torabhaig now?

Mossburn Distillers, a subsidiary of Marussia Beverages, following founder Sir Iain Noble's death.

Can I visit Torabhaig distillery?

Yes. It has a visitor centre at its site in Teangue, Sleat.

Does Torabhaig make peated whisky?

Yes. Its releases lean into a smoky, peated character.

Does The Single Cask sell a Torabhaig cask?

Not at the moment. Production is too new. We point customers toward our Ben Nevis (Heavily Peated) 8 Year Old as a comparable smoky alternative.