‘It’s inherently inefficient what we’re doing’ - Inside the Kythe distillery and owners’ plans for old style Highland malt whisky
This “really distinctive, quite different” Highland distillery has started production; a huge milestone in the quest to produce old style malt whisky. Rosalind Erskine spoke to two of the co-owners to find out more.
When friends Angus MacRaild and Jonny McMillan were driving back from an event in London over a decade ago, chat turned to what they wanted to do with their lives and careers, and their shared love of old style Scotch whisky. It was this shared passion, and wanting to recreate something long gone, which sowed the seeds for the now functioning Kythe distillery.
Angus said: “We’ve been friends for some time now and both of us have a shared passion for old style whisky. I used to work in auctions, and we both worked in various different parts of the industry as independent bottlers.
“About 13 years ago we were both driving back from London from a big party and we got chatting about what we wanted to do with our lives and how we both loved similar styles of whisky, and how no one was making that style of whisky anymore.
“We very quickly alighted upon this idea that we both wanted to make whisky; create a new whisky that was very much in the style of these old 1950s and earlier Highland style malts. That was the start of what took a very long time to turn into reality.”
It wasn’t until the third co-founder, Aaron Chang, came on board did the distillery - as it is now - started to take shape.
Angus said: “When most people start a distillery they have land or money, or both or there’s a big name attached, and we were the opposite of that. Both young guys, not big names in the industry but had lots of ideas and clear ambition but no land or no money, so it took us a long time to get where we are.
“We had a phase one version of this business which we never managed to get off the ground and then our other business partner Aaron Chang from Hong Kong - also an independent bottler in whisky and lover of old style whisky who we’d been friends with for a while - he started to get interested in our project and got more involved and eventually came on board as a business partner.
“He helped us articulate our vision in a new way that was much more focused, scaled down and bare bones and about how to achieve what we wanted to achieve; to trim off the fat and get to this objective of making amazing old style whisky the way we want to make it.”
The distillery was borne out of the trio’s passion to revive historic practices used by brewers and distillers 60 years ago. As such, the overriding ethos at Kythe is to prioritise character of spirit above and beyond modern whisky commercialisation.
Angus described Kythe - which is a Scots word meaning to show, demonstrate or prove - as a “distinctive, quite different distillery.” The trio have the freedom to make decisions they need to achieve their objective and get the maximum quality old style character without anything, such as gin making or tourism, getting in the way.
As for what’s different at the Kythe distillery, compared to a ‘normal’ operational distillery, Jonny McMillan explained: “What everyone wants to see is the log fired wash still. We’ve got a full sized distillery, it’s a one tonne mash, 6000 litre capacity wash so it has pretty much a bonfire underneath it that’s going for 10-12 hours a day. It’s not a gimmick. It’s there for character, and it also cooks a really good pizza for the end of the shift!
“The fire underneath is maybe 700 or 800 degrees - we’ve managed to melt a cast iron fire grate, which was built for steam engines and warps at 800 degrees - so we’re getting really high temperatures to heat the base of the copper and that gives you maillard reactions in the wash, so all the solids and sugars actually burn onto the bottom of the wash still.”
Read more: Scran season 10: How 1940s fashion and a daring raid inspired comedian Al Murray’s whisky
Jonny also cites their use of fresh brewer’s yeast, sourced from Belhaven Brewery, as another component vital in making this old style whisky; as well as the heritage barley variety Maris Otter - some of which is grown on the farm where the distillery is located - which has a much lower yield that modern varieties. This is floor malted at Warminster Maltings. “Every stage is geared at character and quality,” said Jonny, while Angus added: “It’s inherently inefficient what we’re doing.”
The team are all working towards old style Highland malt, with inspiration coming from 1950s and 60s Bowmore and Laphroaig from Islay and in Speyside, Longmorn and Glen Grant. Going a bit further north, distilleries like Highland Park.
They’re looking to achieve a waxy, full bodied texture, a better balance of distillate and wood and tropical fruit flavours. “A lot of modern whiskies (consist of a) quite simple distillate that relies on the additive flavour of wood and it becomes sweeter as a result and more spicy and wood driven and more wood dominated,” said Angus.
“The different production processes that led to that have been changed and the way whisky has been made in intervening years has moved Scotch whisky’s character away from that.”
He added: “If you go back and try distillates from the 60s and 50s or even earlier decades they’re absolutely astonishing and so different from their contemporary counterparts. If you like whisky it’s hard not to go to those bottlings and not be shocked and moved by the difference and the power of character and the quality.”
The team have laid down their first casks, and will “probably need to bring out a fairly young whisky” but the long term plan is to release age statement whiskies, starting with a five year old and some small batch releases.
Angus said: “When you unpack it there’s lots that sets us apart from other distilleries and if we do our job right, it’ll be a really compelling business and eventually a product or whisky lovers to follow along and enjoy in the future.”
From a discussion on a long road trip to now, it has taken time, planning and patience but the eventual addition of Kythe whisky to the Scotch market is an exciting prospect.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.