Latest news with #Arbikie
Scotsman
11-05-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
The Scottish cowshed that's now a groundbreaking distillery with magical sea views
Scotland is home to many distilleries, from historic hidden gems in the rolling hills of Speyside to bustling city attractions and island destinations. But not many have as homely a history as Arbikie - the gin and rye whisky distillery - located in Angus. Arbikie Estate is a family-owned working farm distillery that grows all the ingredients for the spirits, including barley, wheat, juniper, lemongrass and chillies - following their field-to-bottle ethos. When the Stirling brothers opened Arbikie Distillery in 2014, their plan was to combine the best of farming and traditional distilling with innovation. Fast forward over 10 years and Arbikie is one of the most sustainable distilleries in Scotland, and it all started with a cow shed. On a recent episode of our podcast Scran, co-founder John Stirling, spoke to us about the journey of the distillery, how there had been a distillery on the Arbikie estate in the past and their plans for the future. On Arbikie's distilling past, he said: 'Arbikie is the family farm and when we started up our distillery - we had already started the build and then my brother found an ancient map from 1794 where it had Arbikie distillery on it, which we didn't actually know when we started the distillery. "We've got this history of distilling at Arbikie and obviously there's a large gap between then and now but it gives us that bit of history. We searched the name and it's Viking. There were a lot of Viking raiders coming down here, and that was the name given to the farm.' On how the modern-day business came to be, Mr Stirling explained it was the result of a "drunken chat." He said: 'It was 2013/14 and I was an accountant with KPMG. One of my brothers, Iain, was in the whisky industry and my brother David was in marketing and basically we got a bit drunk one night and decided why don't we go back to the basics of whisky distilling, which was farm based, utilising waste products, and create a really sustainable distillery. 'In the cold light of day we looked at the business plan and we had the space, we had everything to do with agriculture which is the way we wanted to create our distillery and we had all the core elements. 'What we were missing was a distiller and luckily we got Kirsty Black who is now Dr Kirsty Black, so she was the final piece in the jigsaw. We built the distillery within a year, produced in 2015 and as they say the rest is history or hopefully we've got a lot of history to come.' The sustainable nature of the distillery started with the build, which was actually converting some old farm buildings including the cow shed. This is now where the whisky and gin stills are housed and where the casks are maturing. Mr Stirling said: 'What has paid dividends, in 2013/14 we had our vision, which has actually not really changed. It was about reducing waste, being kinder to the environment, being more sustainable - where sustainability barely existed in 2013/14 - now is at the forefront of most businesses being kinder to the planet. 'One of the aspects of that (for us) was utilising sheds and, even then, we reduced our waste to a minimum. When we were going through this process, we looked back to what our dad had farmed in the 1960s and they were far better at looking after the fields and the planet than we were in modern agriculture.' Arbikie has a visitor experience, which opened in 2022, with a bustling cafe, shop and bar and there's regular distillery tours. You can also stay on site in one of four mirrored ÖÖD Houses. To listen to this episode, search Scran wherever you get your podcasts. Sign up to our free Scran food and drink newsletter here or if you love whisky sign up to our free Scotsman Whisky Club newsletter here for news, reviews, interviews and discounts.
Scotsman
11-05-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
The Scottish cowshed that's now a groundbreaking distillery with magical sea views
Scotland is home to many distilleries, from historic hidden gems in the rolling hills of Speyside to bustling city attractions and island destinations. But not many have as homely a history as Arbikie - the gin and rye whisky distillery - located in Angus. Arbikie Estate is a family-owned working farm distillery that grows all the ingredients for the spirits, including barley, wheat, juniper, lemongrass and chillies - following their field-to-bottle ethos. When the Stirling brothers opened Arbikie Distillery in 2014, their plan was to combine the best of farming and traditional distilling with innovation. Fast forward over 10 years and Arbikie is one of the most sustainable distilleries in Scotland, and it all started with a cow shed. On a recent episode of our podcast Scran, co-founder John Stirling, spoke to us about the journey of the distillery, how there had been a distillery on the Arbikie estate in the past and their plans for the future. On Arbikie's distilling past, he said: 'Arbikie is the family farm and when we started up our distillery - we had already started the build and then my brother found an ancient map from 1794 where it had Arbikie distillery on it, which we didn't actually know when we started the distillery. "We've got this history of distilling at Arbikie and obviously there's a large gap between then and now but it gives us that bit of history. We searched the name and it's Viking. There were a lot of Viking raiders coming down here, and that was the name given to the farm.' On how the modern-day business came to be, Mr Stirling explained it was the result of a "drunken chat." He said: 'It was 2013/14 and I was an accountant with KPMG. One of my brothers, Iain, was in the whisky industry and my brother David was in marketing and basically we got a bit drunk one night and decided why don't we go back to the basics of whisky distilling, which was farm based, utilising waste products, and create a really sustainable distillery. 'In the cold light of day we looked at the business plan and we had the space, we had everything to do with agriculture which is the way we wanted to create our distillery and we had all the core elements. 'What we were missing was a distiller and luckily we got Kirsty Black who is now Dr Kirsty Black, so she was the final piece in the jigsaw. We built the distillery within a year, produced in 2015 and as they say the rest is history or hopefully we've got a lot of history to come.' The sustainable nature of the distillery started with the build, which was actually converting some old farm buildings including the cow shed. This is now where the whisky and gin stills are housed and where the casks are maturing. Mr Stirling said: 'What has paid dividends, in 2013/14 we had our vision, which has actually not really changed. It was about reducing waste, being kinder to the environment, being more sustainable - where sustainability barely existed in 2013/14 - now is at the forefront of most businesses being kinder to the planet. 'One of the aspects of that (for us) was utilising sheds and, even then, we reduced our waste to a minimum. When we were going through this process, we looked back to what our dad had farmed in the 1960s and they were far better at looking after the fields and the planet than we were in modern agriculture.' Arbikie has a visitor experience, which opened in 2022, with a bustling cafe, shop and bar and there's regular distillery tours. You can also stay on site in one of four mirrored ÖÖD Houses. To listen to this episode, search Scran wherever you get your podcasts. Sign up to our free Scran food and drink newsletter here or if you love whisky sign up to our free Scotsman Whisky Club newsletter here for news, reviews, interviews and discounts.
Scotsman
22-04-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
Earth Day 2025: Scottish businesses offering sustainable spirits and drinks
This year sees the 55th Earth Day, which was established in1970, and there are different ways to mark it, including buying sustainable spirits and from B-Cop businesses. What is Earth Day? Earth Day was founded to raise awareness and bring people together for environmental awareness. Since then, the Earth Day organisation has led various fundraising campaigns, awareness events, and more. Many Scottish food and drink businesses are striving to be more environmentally-friendly, from reducing plastic packaging, cutting down on emissions, changing and adapting growing practises to applying to become B-Corp certified. What is B-Corp? B Corporation is a private certification of for-profit companies that takes into account their"social and environmental performance". The official description reads: "B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials." Here we take a look at some of the best businesses in Scotland who are striving to be greener, and what products you can buy to support this. Dear Green Picture: Dear Green Glasgow-based Dear Green coffee roasters gained B Corp status in 2021, with founder Lisa Lawson saying: "Gaining B Corp certification is one of our proudest moments at Dear Green. "To have the ethical standards which are intrinsically in the culture of the company audited and verified to be of the highest standard is incredible." The coffee roasters joined internationally renowned brands including Innocent, Patagonia and The Body Shop in earning the B Corp accolade. The company was founded by Lisa when she became frustrated by how staff, producers, customers and the environment were treated by the industry. Dear Green has been dedicated to putting social and environmental responsibility, sustainability and purpose ahead of profit ever since. Arbikie Disitllery This family-run farm-to-bottle distillery in Lunan Bay has been working tirelessly to reduce its carbon emissions and offer customers a truly field to bottle range of spirits. In 2020 they launched their first climate positive gin, Nadar, which was followed by a vodka. Nàdar, which means nature in Gaelic, is thought to be the world's first climate positive gin made from peas. A revolutionary spirit for the drinks industry, with a carbon footprint of -1.54 kg CO 2 e per 700ml bottle, it is at the forefront of the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss - the biggest challenges humankind has ever faced. Nadar is the result of five years of research, through Master Distiller, Kirsty Black's, PhD studentship between Abertay University and The James Hutton Institute. Arbikie also gained planning permission to build a 1 MW Wind Turbine on its farm at Lunan Bay in 2022, which will allow the production of green hydrogen. Arbikie believes it will be the first distillery in the world to be powered with green hydrogen, another major milestone on their journey to becoming one of the world's most sustainable distilleries. Bruichladdich Bruichladdich became B-Corp certified in 2020. Of this, the team at Bruichladdich said: "Highlights that helped us to achieve our original certification included our benefits package to staff. "These include Living Wage employment, a 5-10% bonus scheme shared for 100% of our staff, annual cost of living adjustments as well we private healthcare, life assurance provisions and 34 days paid annual leave as standard. We're also a diverse employer with a sound training and development program. Our team in 2020 had 50%+ female senior management and an age range of staff spanning from 19 to 75 years of age. "Our progressive attitude towards our community and sustainability also helped us qualify. We circulate the wastewater from our stills to heat our offices, bottling hall and visitor centre. We switched to 100% green electricity, sourced within the UK. We have ambitious plans for the future, and we can confidently say we are on our way." Nc'Nean Nc'Nean was named a 2022 Best for the World B Corp in recognition of exceptional positive impact for its environmental stewardship, ranking in the top 5% of all B Corps for that category in their corresponding size group. Best for the World is a distinction granted by B Lab to Certified B Corporations (B Corps) whose verified B Impact Scores in the five impact areas evaluated in the B Impact Assessment — community, customers, environment, governance, and workers — hit that top percentage category. Nc'nean earned this accolade based on initiatives such as powering the distillery with 100% renewable energy, using organic barley sourced exclusively from Scotland and bottling its whisky in a 100% recycled clear glass bottle – a UK first for a premium spirit. Rigorous in its approach to sustainable production, in 2021 it became the first whisky distillery in the UK to be verified as net zero for its own operations. Nc'nean founder Annabel Thomas said of this: 'As a small, passionate team we are incredibly proud to have achieved this accolade, which reflects our deep-rooted commitment to championing the most sustainable production processes. "We are extremely pleased with our very high score of 73.3 under the environmental stewardship section and being championed as one of the top 5% of B Corps in our size group for that category worldwide is a fantastic achievement. "We are not afraid to challenge perceptions of the way things should be done in the whisky industry and will continue to pioneer best practice with our ongoing environmental initiatives.' Brewgooder Picture: Brewgooder Twitter Another Scottish drinks brand that has been named Best for the World B Corp in recognition is Brewgooder. The firm achieved this in 2021. The team said of the accolade: "The 'Best for the World' are B Corps whose scores in one or more of the five impact areas assessed towards the certification, reach the top 5% of all B Corps worldwide. At Brewgooder, we have been recognised for our clean water efforts in the Community area. "As all B Corps are already businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose — this is a recognition that makes us incredibly proud. "And we're just getting started… We will continue collaborating with the global B Corp community to improve and positively impact through the power of great craft beer."
The Courier
22-04-2025
- Business
- The Courier
Angus Planning Ahead: Distillery mirror pods approved and old railway site house bid
Arbikie has won permission for four new mirrored pods for visitors to the distillery. There are already four of the holiday pods sited at the distillery and visitor centre near Inverkeilor. Those enjoy views over Lunan Bay and have proved extremely popular. A council report said: 'The supporting information indicates that these have been complete for around one year, with a very high occupancy rate of 85%.' The new pods will be located beside the existing units and have individual saunas. There were no objections to the Arbikie application, which was approved under delegated powers. Officials added: 'The proposal would provide opportunities for more visitors to experience and enjoy the countryside in Angus.' Kinpurnie Estate has submitted a plan for a house on land once connected with the Dundee and Newtyle Railway. The open ground sits between Knox Close and Milton Cottage at the end of Commercial Street. It is opposite the old railway sheds which sat at the end of the line from Dundee. Those buildings have since undergone residential redevelopment. A line of trees which were identified as an overshadowing concern in a previous planning application for the Knox Close site have since been removed. The site totals 443 sq m. The new proposal is for a three-bedroom, one-and-a-half storey house with private driveway and garden ground of around 180 sq m. Meanwhile, Kinpurnie Estate is also seeking to renew permission for a house on the site of a disused farm shed near Coupar Angus. In 2021, approval was granted for the demolition of the 1970s hay barn at East Keillor. It sits west of Newtyle near the Angus Council border with Perth and Kinross. However, due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the development was never started and permission has now lapsed. There were no objections to the original application. The design is for a four-bedroomed, single storey house of 148 sq m. A decision will be made in due course. A Carnoustie resident who was ordered to remove an Airbnb caravan from beside the east coast rail line wants to bring it back. In March, Tony Lindsay lost a lengthy battle to keep the static caravan in his Ireland Street garden. He previously used it as a holiday let. It was removed after the Scottish Government upheld an Angus Council enforcement order. Mr Lindsay has now lodged a fresh proposal to return the caravan to the site. It has been stripped of kitchen and bedroom amenities. His planning agents say: 'The spaces are not functionable for independent living. 'This is because the owner proposes the siting of the former caravan as an ancillary building for office or storage, or as a snug for the family's enjoyment.' The application will be considered in due course. A Carnoustie beauty salon plan has been approved. The proposal will see a new door and external cladding at Katie's lash and beauty therapies studio. It is at Station Road, on the corner of Church Street. Inside the studio there will be a main beauty area, treatment room, lash beds and an accessible WC. There were no objections to the changes and permission was granted under delegated powers. Planners said: 'The unit has been empty for some time, and the renovation and reuse of it will bring a welcome improvement in vitality and vibrance of the street scene.' Arbikie mirror pods Newtyle House East Keillor farm shed demolition Carnoustie garden caravan Carnoustie beauty parlour
