Scapa

Overview

Scapa distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery situated on The Mainland of Orkney, Scotland on the shore of Scapa Flow near the town of Kirkwall. Scapa is the second most northern whisky distillery in Scotland, being half a mile farther south than the Highland Park Distillery.

The distillery has one wash still and one spirit still producing a single malt whisky. It is an especially honey flavoured whisky, and less peaty than most Island Whiskies. This is because, though the water at the source is peaty, it gets transported to the distillery through pipelines to avoid more contact with the peat. Furthermore, the malt is not dried over peat smoke.

Location and contact details

Location" Location: Scapa Distillery, St Ola, Kirkwall, KW15 1SE, UK
Visitor Visit Type: Vistor Centre, but booking recommended
Co-ordinates" Co-ordinates: 58.963665, -2.995825
Telephone" Telephone: +44 (0) 1856 873 269
Email" Email: admin.scapa[at]pernod-ricard.com
Web" Web: http://scapawhisky.com/
Twitter" Twitter: Scapa Distillery (@ScapaDistillery)

Facts and figures

LocationScapa Distillery, St Ola, Kirkwall, KW15 1SE, UK
Founded1885
OwnerPernod Ricard
Water SourceLingro Burn
Stills1 wash still 1 spirit still

Tours

Open 5 days a week from 13th March 2017 to 31st March 2017 and from 25th September 2017 to 10th November 2017.

Open 7 days a week from 3rd April 2017 to 24th September 2017.

From 13th November 2017 until early March 2018, tours are by appointment only.

The Scapa tours (£10) lasts approximately 45 minutes and runs, from Mondays to Saturdays, at 9.30am, 10.30am, 1.30pm and 4pm. On Sundays, the first tour starts at 12.30pm

The Scapa Experience Tour (£20) lasts approximately 90 minutes and runs at 11.30am (except for Sundays) and 2.30pm

The Scapa distillery is on the remote islands of Orkney and tours can fill up well in advance so booking ahead is strongly recommended; contact details are above.

History

The distillery, founded in 1885 by Macfarlane & Townsend, was during the 1950s acquired by Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd (now part of Pernod Ricard) and rebuilt. In 1994 it was mothballed, and faced definitive closure in 2004. During that period, the most commonly available edition was the Scapa 12 years old, which was and still is a most distinctive island whisky for its subtle heathery honey plus sea taste. Still, it was decided to rebuild/restore the distillery, and the first new spirit in 10 years flowed in November 2004. Because of the time-gap, it was decided to stop the 12 years and introduce the 14 years, which is quite different from its predecessor, even though the basic characteristics are intact.

The 14-year expression of the Scapa offering has been given fair-to-good reviews at international spirit ratings competitions. It won gold and double gold medals at the 2005 and 2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competitions, but received a more modest score of 85 (on a 100-point scale) in 2005 from the Beverage Testing Institute.

In November 2009, Scapa was re-launched as a 16 years old whisky, with an extra two years in first fill American oak casks.

[nearby type="distillery"]This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Scapa distillery, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.Information correct as of 04/01/2020

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *