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WOLFBURN ORIGINS
In 1821, William Smith founded a distillery on Thurso’s outskirts. He named it Wolfburn after the nearby stream, “burn” being the Scots word for a small river.
The distillery was constructed from hardy local Caithness flagstone. The remains of its foundations are still visible today. Smith heavily invested in Wolfburn, making it a significant malt whisky producer. Early 19th-century tax records show it as the largest distillery in Caithness. In 1826, its annual production was 28,056 “Total Gallons of Proof Spirit,” roughly 125,000 liters.
The new Wolfburn distillery building is a short walk along the burn from the old site, towards the sea.
The Smith family owned Wolfburn distillery until at least the 1850s, when production ceased. The exact closing date is unknown. Some records suggest whisky production continued into the 1860s. The 1872 Ordnance Survey map showed the distillery in ruins, but by 1877 the map no longer included the words ‘in ruins.’ The distillery may have worked intermittently towards the end of its operation.
REBUILDING WOLFBURN
In May 2011, one of our team located the old Wolfburn Distillery site in Thurso, Caithness. After 150 years of neglect, we found a barely discernible pile of stones. However, the water from the original Wolf Burn still flowed as it always had.
A short walk downstream from the old site, we found a small flat piece of land covered in thistles. We decided to use a little of the water each day to produce whisky again. The land purchase was finalized in May 2012, and construction began a few months later in early August. By the end of September, the new buildings started to take shape. Plans were drawn up, and equipment was sourced from far and wide.
Golden Oldies: Rare and Out-of-Production Spirits
