Given the obvious synergies between brewing beer and distilling whisky – whisky is essentially distilled beer – it is perhaps surprising that Eden Mill in Fife is the only combined brewery/distillery in Scotland.

Indeed, it is only the second in the UK, with the historic Adnams Brewery in Suffolk starting to distil whisky in 2010. The practice is more commonplace in the USA, where craft brewing pioneer Fritz Maytag of the Anchor Brewing Company established an Anchor Distilling Company in 1993, and others have followed suit as craft brewing and distilling have spread across the States like wildfire.

Back in Fife, Eden Mill brewery was launched in 2012 by Paul Miller, whose CV boasts a wealth of both brewing and distilling experience. “I worked for Oddbins and then in product development for International Distillers & Vintners [now part of Diageo], before moving to Glenmorangie,” he says.

“After that, I spent 10 years with the Coors Brewing Company, running their Scottish and Irish business. One day Pete Coors, chairman of the company, was staying in St Andrews on a visit from the USA, and he said that instead of playing golf, he wanted me to take him to a local brewery or distillery.”

Miller realised that the nearest distilleries were Tullibardine and Glenturret in Perthshire, each around 50 miles way, and the situation for breweries was little better. At that moment an idea was born, and Miller turned his back on the bright lights of the commercial big time and started looking for suitable premises near St Andrews in which to create a small-scale brewery. Finally, he came across a redundant former paper mill in the village of Guardbridge, close to St Andrews, which was in the ownership of the University of St Andrews. Miller didn’t know it at the time, but the paper mill had been built on the site of Seggie Distillery, operated by members of the famous Haig family between 1810 and 1860.

He leased part of the vast site, and brought in Scott Gowans, a local man who was a qualified brewer and distiller, to establish the brewery. Since then the team has expanded to 23, with nine working in production. While producing relatively mainstream brews such as Seggie Porter and Shipwreck IPA, Eden Mill has also been innovative when it comes to creating beers, establishing a wood-matured range, and even filling beer into ex-Mouton Rothschild claret casks which had previously held single malt whisky.

“Our ethos is sustainability,” says Ryan Ringsell, one of six brewer/distillers. “We source everything we can locally, and actually won an award for using barley from Francis Cuthbert, who owns nearby Daftmill distillery. We use Golden Promise barley, which most distillers no longer use, but the quality is fantastic.” The spent grains left over after distilling go to Seggie Farm to feed livestock, and the hops make a meal at Dairsie pig farm, while used barrels are turned into furniture by local craftsmen.

Following the initial success of what was essentially a ‘local’ brewery, Miller contemplated expanding the brewing operation, but after meeting members of the team that established Strathearn Distillery in Perthshire during 2013, he decided instead to create a craft distillery. That was in March 2014, and during the next few months, brewing capacity was increased from the existing five-barrel set-up to a 20-barrel operation, in order to create enough wash for distillation. Three distinctive copper pot stills were manufactured by Hoga in Portugal, and the production of gin and whisky commenced, with the first cask of whisky being filled on 14th November last year. While beer and whisky are made on a five-day basis, gin is produced over two days each weekend.

The Eden Mill team has been suitably innovative with its gins, releasing one matured for five to six weeks in ex-bourbon barrels, along with the first ever hopped gin to be produced in the UK. The beauty of distilling gin is that, as with beer, the liquid can be sold as soon as it is produced, while whisky must be matured in oak casks for three years before it can officially be sold as ‘whisky’. In the meantime Eden Mill is selling new-make spirit, with three varieties having been distilled from different malt recipes, something only usually associated with brewing.

“Our ethos is sustainability. We source everything we can locally, and actually won an award for using barley from Francis Cuthbert, who owns nearby Daftmill distillery”

Stylistically, the type of whisky being made comes as something of a surprise. Lowland malts have traditionally been relatively light and delicate, and Eden Mill qualifies as a Lowland malt in terms of the distillery’s location, but Miller and his staff are making an altogether fuller-bodied spirit, described as “coastal Highland and robust”. Miller declares: “We’re influenced by whiskies we like ourselves, including Old Pulteney, Clynelish and The Macallan.”

Rather than filling this spirit into casks that formerly held bourbon, as is commonplace, Eden Mill fills mainly into ex-Oloroso sherry casks, although French and American oak casks are also used, and a variety of sizes.

Eden Mill is offering a bespoke service for anyone wanting their very own casks of Eden Mill whisky, as Ringsell explains. “It’s like a tailor-made suit. The client comes along and decides what malt type he or she wants and what type and size of cask they want it putting into. Every six months they are invited along to sample it and see how it’s doing.”

You don’t need to buy a cask to see around Eden Mill, however, as daily tours tailored to individual interest are available on a pre-booked basis, and if you can’t make it to Fife to experience Eden Mill for yourself, there is an online shop, selling the full range of beers, gins and new-make spirit.

That spirit will be released in small quantities on an annual basis, with 350 bottles of each of the three variants hitting the shelves during December 2017 and January 2018. And when it comes to the ultimate whisky product, Paul Miller says: “We expect to be releasing our first signature malt from Oloroso hogsheads when it’s around five or six years old in 2020, although this may change depending on how it is maturing and developing.”

In their day, the Haigs of Seggie Distillery were notable innovators, distilling grain spirit to mix with malt and create the blended whiskies that took the world by storm during the second half of the 19th century. It therefore seems highly appropriate that Paul Miller and his innovative Eden Mill team now occupy the old Seggie site.

Visit www.edenmill.com for more.

---

---