At the foothills of the Cairngorm Mountains, between Aberdeen and Dundee, lies the Howe o’ the Mearns, where farmlands bristle with barley against the backdrop of heather-flecked hills. This is where Fettercairn has stood for two centuries. As this Highland distillery marks its 200th year, it is just coming of age. Though known so far to a select few, Fettercairn is loved by those in the know for its immensely complex new-make spirit and elegant whiskies. The distillery’s story is one of tradition, innovation, and characters who haven’t shied away from asking, “What if?”
In celebration of this milestone, Fettercairn is releasing a new film in partnership with Whisky Magazine, featuring renowned Scottish chef Julie Lin, regular Whisky Magazine contributors Kristiane Sherry and Abbie Moulton, and Peter Gilchrist of Tenement Kitchen. Titled 200 Years Of Imagination, the film explores Fettercairn’s legacy, evolution, and some of the stories and people behind the past two centuries of single malt Scotch whisky, delving into the spirit’s history, craftsmanship, and innovations.
200 Years Of Imagination premiered exclusively on Whisky Magazine’s YouTube channel on 18 October 2024.
Distillery manager Stewart Walker, Fettercairn’s longest-serving member of staff, is a village local. In fact, he grew up on none other than Distillery Road and joined Fettercairn in 1990, more than 35 years ago. He explains the sense of place; the beautiful, fertile land, and the fresh, soft water that runs through the rock of the Grampian hills, contributing to the fruity and floral notes we expect from a Highland single malt. The location shapes the whisky, it’s true, but so do the people. Knowledge and traditions are passed down from distiller to distiller, through the hands of time.
At Fettercairn, this chain of hands stretches back two centuries and beyond, traced to the early days of distilling. Back then, whisky-making had to be kept under wraps and was carried out not under the signature pagoda roof, but in crofts and cottages, hidden from the prying eyes of the tax man. The Grampian Hills provided perfect cover, and tucked at the foot of the Cairn were some stills operated by tenant farmer James Stewart, a talented and celebrated local illicit distiller. In 1824, when Sir Alexander Ramsay, a local estate owner, was granted one of the first legal licences to set up a distillery, he knew just the man for the job. James Stewart became Fettercairn’s first-ever distiller.
“That fertile farmland is good for growing barley, of course,” Walker reminds us. “The farming history here runs long and deep, just like the distilling history. There are parallels: the farmers have skills passed down through generations, just as the distillery does. Some farmers likely have historical ties to Fettercairn dating back the full 200 years.”
Generations of distilling have led to the creation of a complex, characterful new-make spirit — one of Scotch whisky’s most distinctive distillery styles. “Overripe banana comes directly from the fermentation,” explains Walker. “And behind that, there’s a lovely tropical fruit nose of mango and guava.” Coconut wax notes appear alongside the foundation of rich cereal and bread notes, too.
Fettercairn’s unique style is a product of both place and the process. The distillery’s old-fashioned tumble-rake mash tun produces a cloudy wort with a rich, biscuity profile, adding to the complexity of the new-make spirit. Fermentation takes place in wooden wash backs, heralded as a factor playing a small but significant role in the creation of a complex spirit. Indeed, production at Fettercairn is designed to build in complexity from the start and draws on unique methods to do so.
This spirit of innovation is most visible inside the still house. Fettercairn’s famed stills feature unique copper cooling rings, which run cool mountain water down the outside of the still, billowing steam adding to the theatrics. Designed in 1952 and commissioned when former distillery manager Alistair Menzies was looking for a lighter, purer expression of the spirit, the cooling rings are not just a feat of drama but are key to Fettercairn’s distinctive style. “The obvious thing to do would have been to re-engineer the stills, which would have been very expensive,” Walker explains. Instead, Menzies thought to try something else: by hosing the top of the still with water, he noticed a change in the new-make spirit when the still’s necks were cooler.
“That cool water cascading down the still creates reflux,” Walker explains. “Inside the still, the lovely, lighter floral notes, which we need and want, pass beyond this cooling ring. The heavier, oilier notes also make their way up but, as they reach the cooler copper, the reflux happens and they fall back into the liquid. It’s such a wonderful creation, and it typifies everything about Fettercairn,” Walker adds.
Looking beyond the obvious and asking ‘what if’ is a constant at Fettercairn, evident today in initiatives like the Fettercairn 200 Club. Led by Stewart Walker in collaboration with Bairds Malt and local farmers, the focus is on returning to local sourcing — specifically, barley from within a 50-mile radius. As Walker explains, “We thought, ‘Why are we using malt from other parts of Scotland when we have an abundance of the best quality barley for distilling right on our doorstep?’”
This initiative also reignites some of the long-standing partnerships between farmers and distillers. “We know we have a historical connection, and now, generations later, we have their sons, grandsons, and other family members supplying the distillery with barley.”
The 200 Club connects the distillery’s past to the present, but the team at Fettercairn is also looking toward the future. The Scottish Oak Project, developed by master whisky maker Gregg Glass, focuses on responsible sourcing of quality local oak, crafting single-estate casks from wind-felled Scottish oak to impart unique flavours to the whisky. The initiative has also prompted oak forest regeneration, with trees being planted around Scotland and in the distillery’s own Fettercairn Forest, comprising 13,000 oak saplings planted close by to the distillery.
The latest taste of Scottish oak-matured single malt — a true rarity in the world of Scotch whisky — will soon be released as part of a special 200th-anniversary celebration collection. This release brings together six remarkable bottles of single malt, each representing a different chapter in Fettercairn’s two centuries of imaginative whisky making.
Combined, the age statements of these bottles total 200 years, with the six expressions ranging from a rare three-year-old distilled in 2021, fully matured in an exceptional Scottish oak cask, to a unique 60-year-old, the oldest official release from Fettercairn to date. Housed in a beautiful oak cabinet, intricately designed to reflect the natural beauty of Fettercairn, this collection brings together two centuries of stories, legends, ideas, and imagination.
An ode to the distillery’s past, present, and future, the collection is a fitting way to mark a landmark year for one of Scotland’s most remarkable distilleries. After all, Fettercairn may be 200 years old, but in many ways it’s just getting started.