Glenwyvis 2018-2021 - Batch 1 - Inaugural Release

Glenwyvis distillery was founded in the HIghlands northeast of Inverness in 2015/6 by local helicopter pilot John McKenzie. McKenzie secured planning permission to build the distillery on farmland he owned near his hometown of Dingwall, northwest of Inverness, and successfully crowdfunded construction, attracting over 3000 small shareholders from the local community and wider ranks of whisky fans. Building work was completed late in 2017 and the stills ran for the first time early in 2018. 

GlenWyvis distillery's name references two previous Dingwall distilleries, Glenskiach and the original Ben Wyvis distillery, which both closed in 1926. As well as being Scotland’s first 100% community-owned crowdfunded distillery, GlenWyvis also has the distinction of being one of the first of Scotland’s distilleries to achieve 100% green energy self-sufficiency, using wind, solar and hydro power and a biomass boiler. The first GlenWyvis single malt whisky for public release appeared in 2021.

Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.

This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.