SCOTLAND’S ‘BABY’ GROWS UP.
A tiny, independent distillery has just
triumphed over the big boys to pick
up a top industry award. Isle of Arran Distillers has been voted “Scottish Distiller
of the Year 2007” in the Icons of Whisky Awards run by Whisky Magazine.
Senior figures in the
whisky industry chose this modern-day David over the
Goliaths of the trade as the best example of whisky-making in Scotland today.
Isle of Arran’s managing director, Douglas
Davidson, was delighted. “ This is fantastic news. We’ve won awards before,
but to have the top-ranking people
in the industry vote us Distiller of
the Year is something very, very
special. We’re only a small team at Arran, but we’re a hardworking one, and
this award is testament to all of the
dedicated work that goes on at Lochranza and at our Stirling HQ”.
Isle of Arran’s
story is a remarkable one. Set up in 1995 after a Scotland-wide search to find the purest water brought geologists to Arran, the
distillery was sited in the
foothills of Lochranza. Its commitment to creating high quality products has
produced a number of excellent specialist, award winning malts and last year it
launched its first ten year old single malt, which won a silver medal at the Oscars of the
whisky world, the International Wines
and Spirits Competition.
Common thinking was that no new distillery
could flourish among the premium
brands in a crowded market where heritage and history is critical, but it seems
that nobody at Isle of Arran read the
script. Now highly successful, the
company has received top honours in export over the
last three years for bringing the
best of Scotland
to the rest of the world. Douglas Davidson sees this latest award
as a real coming-of-age for the
company “We have shed the tag of
‘Scotland’s
youngest distillery.’ We are no longer a baby. We have become a full grown
adult and we are determined to continue our focus on becoming a major player in
the world of single malt whisky…and
I’ll drink to that!”
Isle of Arran
has proven itself to be a real modern-day success story in one of the country’s most traditional of industries.
Notes to Editors
- Whisky Magazine is the
premier industry publication in Scotland and runs its Icons of
Whisky Awards every year.
- The awards are voted on by a panel of experts working in all
areas of the whisky industry
- Isle of Arran Distillers has previously won the ‘Exporter of the
Year’ award in 2004 and a Queen’s Award for International Trade in 2005.
- For further
information / photographs / samples on this story or to discuss any
possible future feature, contact Douglas Davidson or sales director, Euan
Mitchell on 01786 431 901 or at douglasdavidson@arranwhisky.com
or euanmitchell@arranwhisky.com
.