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Saxa
Vord
or
A
Reel-y interesting place |
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You may be excused
for asking "Saxa Who" if you've not
already heard of Scotland's most northerly distillery. No, not
that Orkney one, but the one tucked away on an island called Unst which
is one of the group of Shetland Isles. Embarrassingly I'd
remotely heard of Saxa Vord some time ago but then promptly
forgotten about it, so when I booked my trip to Shetland I was
thinking more of photography and R&R than distillery visits. It
was only when I started mentioning my forthcoming trip that a
couple of people asked if I'd be visiting the distillery.
Saxa Vord distillery is on
the site of the old RAF base of the same name which in its time was home to various
aircraft (English Electric Lightning, Phantom F-4 & Tornado F3)
during the cold war years when they typically escorted Soviet
TU-95 probing flights out of UK airspace. Over the last few
years Frank and Debbie Strang have been regenerating the old RAF
base, turning it into a resort comprising self-catering
accommodation, a hostel and a bar / restaurant. The distillery
itself is the brainchild of Stuart Nickerson and his wife Wilma.
Yes, that Stuart Nickerson we all know and love from his
Glenglassaugh days.
In 2013 Stuart
submitted plans for the distillery to Shetland Isles Council
which were granted and the first commercial distillation was in
September 2014. OK, let's make one thing clear; at the moment
we're talking Gin and not whisky. The brand is called Shetland
Reel Gin and Stuart currently produces three expressions;
Original Gin which uses
sweet scented leaves of apple mint grown locally on Unst, Ocean Sent Gin which is influenced by the seas surrounding Unst and
even features native Bladderwrack seaweed
and Simmer Gin which is named after the long Summer twilight
hours. Simmer Gin features a recipe of eight botanicals
including orange peel and liquorice root.
But what about
whisky? Stuart has plans to begin whisky production and they
may even come to fruition in the next 1-2 years according to
distillery manager Mark (Turnbull), but more of that later. |
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How do you get
there? it's true, we're talking north, very north, in fact
60° north and that's well north. Unst is actually closer to
Norway than it is to Aberdeen so getting there is an adventure
in itself, as I found on my recent visit. You'll probably start
by travelling to Shetland which means a 12 hour overnight ferry
from Aberdeen, or a flight from Aberdeen or Edinburgh. Travelling
from Munich I flew Munich to Edinburgh then onwards to Sumburgh
(Shetland) which is a 45-50 minute flight. Did I say adventure?
The runway literally begins where the sea ends which makes the approach
interesting, even more so than a previous flight to Wick. The
plane banks towards a distant island but even to the point where
the wheels are down and you're only metres from land, you're
actually only metres above water. Then there's the runway, the
main road to the airport and south of the island crosses it so
of course you need to stop local traffic when a plane's landing
or taking off.
Here you see a
Loganair flight from Aberdeen coming in to land. |
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Before my trip
I
e-mailed Stuart asking whether I might be able to drop in at
some point. He apologised saying he'd personally not be there
but I could call in advance to arrange a convenient time. Sadly
I forgot to take the details with me so couldn't do that,
however my interest was piqued and I decided to try anyway. A
drive to the north of shetland took me to the first ferry which
in turn took me to the next island called Yell. If I thought
Shetland was remote then Yell is at another level but I took the
advice of my B&B hosts to venture away from the main road and
explore the side roads. Definitely a good tip offering stunning
scenery! After a bit of exploration my journey continued
northwards to the second ferry from Yell to Unst. Just ten
minutes later I find myself on Unst and heading further north
towards Saxa Vord resort which is eventually sign-posted from
the main road shortly after the field containing the Viking long
boat and Viking grass-roofed house. In the corner of a courtyard
opposite the craft brewery is the entrance to Saxa Vord
distillery. As I approached the doorway wondering whether anyone
would be there it opened and a chap introduced himself as Mark,
asking how he could help me. Mark turned out to be distillery
manager, distiller and general good guy who immediately invited
me in whilst apologising he was in the middle of measuring out
his latest distillation from a very large container into
slightly smaller ones. Let's just say good hand-eye coordination
are needed here.
Once finished he
invited me to look around and even asked if I wanted to take
any pictures. Now there's hospitality and I don't need asking
twice so a quick run back to the car to collect my camera before
he could change his mind.
What I found was
a small (I believe craft is the in word) still in the corner
of a large warehouse-type building, a comfortable visitor /
tasting room to the side and obviously lots of storage. Pointing
to one area the length of the side wall Mark explained that was
the area currently planned for their whisky production. He
explained that they were hoping to begin in two years if not
next year. |
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Meanwhile, back at
the whisky;
Saxa
Vord may not yet be producing their own whisky but they are
bottling whisky. They buy a selection of single malts, vat them
and bottle their own blended malt under their Shetland Reel
label. So far they have released two different batches with
batch 1 being released in late 2015 as a limited release of 1800
bottles. It comprised four Speyside and one Islay malt and was
bottled at 47% abv. It won a gold medal at the San Francisco
world spirits competition. Batch 2 comprises Speyside, Highland
and Islay single malts and is again bottled at 47% abv after
being reduced from cask strength with local Unst water. As I
write this article batch 3 is currently being bottled and a
release for Christmas-time is planned. My own tasting notes for
batch 3 will be online in the near future. |
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My heartfelt thanks to Mark Turnbull for his hospitality and
taking the time during his busy schedule to welcome this
eccentric Yorkshireman for an unplanned visit. Thanks again Mark
and good luck to the whole team for the future. I can't wait for
the start of your own whisky production. |
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A
selection of previous Dram-atics highlights
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The Malt
Maniacs Awards - MMA |
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Dec.
2010 |
December's Advent-urous drams,
Nant Distillery,
The road to Certification |
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Nov. 2010 |
Journey to end of Scotverse,
Wick,
Pulteney,
Balblair,
Knockdhu,
Homecoming,
Tweetup,
Chilling with Cooley |
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Oct.
2010 |
The John Walker,
Sampling with Master of Malts,
Changing jobs,
Whisky Round Table |
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Sept.
2010 |
Playing Chinese whispers,
Oktoberfest,
SMWS Spirit Cellar,
500,000 |
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August
2010 |
Elementary my dear Islay,
Handbags at dawn,
Dram-arkable 500,
Cheapo Challenge,
Ah Dooagh,
1 from 3 left |
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July
2010 |
Age
matters. A series of whisky reviews concentrating upon 'Age' |
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June
2010 |
Jules
Rimet, pickles & crisps.
Mon coeur, mon amour oh mon sherry.
A
taste of the great outdoors. |
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May
2010 |
The
highly-acclaimed and record-breaking "Desert Island Drams" |
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April
2010 |
My
peat's bigger than your peat,
A foursome with a famous Scottish
bird |
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March
2010 |
Sample
Mania tasting notes,
The Good, the Bad & The Loch Dh-Ugly,
A return to sanity,
The Choice of Managers |
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Jan-Feb
2010 |
Keep
taking the medicine,
It's Festival time,
Maker's Mark,
Sleeveless in Munich |
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Dec. 2009 |
All
power to bean-counters,
protecting Scotch,
seasonal drams,
Definitive Xmas Drams,
2009 Whisky Awards |
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Nov. 2009 |
How it
all started,
Bonfire night,
Autumnal musings,
EU Tax & Duty,
What's in a (whisky) name? |
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© Copyright
2009-2015 by Keith Wood - All rights reserved - Whisky-Emporium |
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