Celebrations as Isle of Barra Distillers come home
There were celebrations on the Isle of Barra yesterday (8th of May) as it was the historic day that the Isle of Barra Distillers were granted full approval by HMRC for a full distilling licence and also bonded warehouse facilities on their home island
The expansive ocean surrounding the beautiful Isle of Barra inspired the Barra-born couple, Katie and Michael Morrison to venture into the world of distilling.
They have now realised their dream of giving something back to the island and for the community to feel proud of the Isle of Barra Distillers.
Michael feels that “above everything else that we can achieve from this journey, it is the thought of both giving something back to this beautiful island and also putting the Isle of Barra on the ‘gin map’ that drives us forward. We feel we owe it to the island and its people – we have the opportunity to do something great and something great is what we are going to do”.
This new and welcome news of HMRC approval means that they are now the island’s first distillery and also Scotland’s most westerly distillery.
This is a huge step forward for everyone involved, especially when the original plan for this milestone was to be near the end of 2020, so they have achieved it a full 18 months ahead of schedule.
They say this is “A testament to the hard work and dedication that has been put in over the short 2 years since the company embarked on this journey.”
The gin has been distilled in England while the extensive plans for the island distillery were put in place, something Michael has always been transparent about – including their determination to start production from Barra as son=on as possible. He says:
It has been no secret that we have been working hard behind the scenes to move full production of the Barra Atlantic Gin back to our Island home and today we can say that is now a reality. Exciting times for everyone involved!
The Scottish Gin Society team are incredibly excited about the move and send our warmest congratulations to Michael, Katie and their hard-working team. We look forward to adding them to our Scottish Gin Distillery map and visiting them at the new home of Isle of Barra Gin soon.
