It’s the Speyside whisky region that you’ve never heard of, but one which has played a huge part in the development and prestige of whisky from the area - from illicit distilling to legal distilleries. Now, The Cabrach is set for a major new chapter in its history, as a new distillery will open this summer.

The Cabrach Distillery will herald the return of real Cabrach whisky after a long sleep of more than 170 years and is the cornerstone of The Cabrach Trust’s transformational regeneration masterplan for the area.

Jonathan Christie, Chief Executive of the The Cabrach Trust discussed the area’s history and its importance, saying: “It's incredible. Illicit sites are still scattered around the glens and in the hills of the Cabrach, which we've obviously undertaken some research on in the past. The illicit distilling origins of whisky production in the Cabrach set apart the region.”

This is because whisky from the Cabrach was once as prized as the famous The Glenlivet. Once whisky production became legal, after the excise act, the Cabrach continued to be a benchmark for whisky.

Christie explains: “In the turn of the 1800s, there was a change in policy that allowed three families who were reputed to be illicit distillers to embark upon small legal production of whisky. There were three distilleries, following the 1823 Act, one called Lesmurdie, one called Tomnaven, and finally Blackmiddens. For the early part of the 1800s, through to around 1850, or thereabouts, these three legal distilleries, which all operated in the Cabrach, had absolute top billing alongside Glenlivet.

"Press clippings from this time show price ladders of the various whisky companies and regions on those price ladders and at the very top would be Cabrach and Glenlivet.”

While both of these whisky names were flying high, only one remains in today’s market, and this was down to the advancement in technology and the opening up of markets due to the railways. The Cabrach’s remote location, which was once prized for illicit distilling, would be its downfall.

Christie says: “it was easier to produce whisky further down the valley as there was access to road, rail and raw materials. One by one, the Cabrach distilleries shut down like many other similar small distilleries at that time.”

And that could have been the end of the Cabrach’s tale, was it not for the formation of the Cabrach Trust and the vision to bring whisky back to this historic location once again.

The Cabrach Distillery is located at the centre of Inverharroch Farm, within painstakingly restored 19th century stone steadings which will also house a café and heritage centre. World-renowned coppersmiths Forsyths, based in nearby Rothes, has built the copper stills, which have now been transported to The Cabrach, and undertaken all major aspects of the construction. In a move that seems fitting, in a full circle way, the Cabrach’s master of malt is one Alan Winchester, the man who has been behind The Glenlivet for over 45 years. He started off as a volunteer for the Trust, but quickly became indispensable.

Christie says: “The individuals that have got involved in the project are incredible and massive contributors to making the difference between what's a nice idea, and what is now a living, breathing reality. Alan Winchester came on board just as a volunteer to begin with, and helped in the first year, to work through the process of how we assimilate, really quite complex distillery design into a 19th century setting. Alan was able to come on board as one of our inaugural non-exec directors, and he's taken on the mantle of being our non-exec master of malts. He is here week in, week out. He comes up on his bike, he drives up in the rain, he's always keen to get the hard hat on and look around the site. He's always asking me the question of the day and generally offering a good perspective or signposting me in the right direction.”

While the Cabrach whisky is yet to be created - the team have taken inspiration from the distilleries that were once there - they’ve released a bottling titled the Feering and launched a founder’s club, The Cabrach Collective, a small community of founding champions who will join the journey to revive the long-lost craft of whisky making in The Cabrach.

As the opening of the new distillery gets closer, and the Cabrach will once again be a player in the Scotch whisky industry, Christie acknowledges that this is a very exciting time, but also looks to the bigger picture: “There's something very exciting from a whisky point of view in its own right, without question but whisky aside, there's a very different way of doing business that we're creating. It's very patient. It's not without risk. But if we can prove the model that this type of business in our case, a single malt scotch whisky distillery, can be the engine room for genuine community societal change within this area. That's a powerful concept. It's a theory at this stage, the idea of proving that theory, and potentially being able to showcase that theory to other communities who have been dealt a difficult hand is probably the part of the puzzle that really gets me up in the morning.”

The Cabrach have an event at Spirit of Speyside, on 3 May. To find out more about the distillery and Trust, visit https://cabrachtrust.org

Historic whisky distillery, the Cabrach, to open in Speyside - and have launched the Feering whisky

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