Kingsbarns Dram to Dram - 2021 Release

The Kingsbarns distillery in Fife was developed in the early years of the new millennium by Douglas Clement, a former caddie at the St. Andrews and Kingsbarns championship golf courses. Seeking to rectify the curious fact that there were no visitable whisky distilleries within 50 miles of the home of golf, Clement found an old farmstead site in East Neuk and commissioned distillery designs in 2008. 

Clement obtained planning permission in 2011, but was unable to fully fund construction and in 2013 the Kingsbarns project was sold to independent bottlers Wemyss Malts. Wemyss completed the build for Kingsbarns in 2014, with Clement staying on as founding director and visitor centre manager until 2017. Distillation commenced at Kingsbarns in 2015, and the first Kingsbarns single malt whisky was released in 2018. Kingsbarns is also the home of the popular Darnley's gin.

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.