Kythe Distillery is “an uncommonly ambitious project in pursuit of true and absolute quality — drawing on inspiration from the past to create a new Highland single malt that will stand as one of the most distinctive and charismatic in Scotland, and beyond. [Its] aim is to recreate an extinct style of Scottish single malt whisky — one not produced since the 1960s.”
So write the founders of Kythe Distillery on their website, and as ‘mission statements’ go, it seems ambitious to say the least. But, spend time with them at the work in progress distillery site, listen to what they have to say, and it is difficult not to come away feeling that their aim is not only highly laudable but also entirely achievable.
Kythe, which has the meaning of ‘to make or become known’ in Scots, is the brainchild of Angus MacRaild, who holds the title of whisky maker, distillery manager Jonny McMillan, and chairman Aaron Chan. Former brands heritage director at Berry Bros & Rudd Spirits Ronnie Cox serves as brand director emeritus.
The team brings a vast amount of whisky knowledge to the project, with MacRaild acting as writer, whisky consultant, and events specialist, as well as running the Decadent Drinks independent bottling operation. McMillan was formerly bulk spirits buyer at Berry Bros & Rudd, while Chan is the founder of Club Qing, a Hong Kong-based independent bottler.
Kythe Distillery has been 11 years in the making, with construction work beginning in July 2024, and production likely to commence during late summer of this year. The chosen site is on land owned by farmer Donald Colville at Hills of Bendochty, between the Perthshire towns of Coupar Angus and Blairgowrie, in an area best known for soft fruit production.
The production building and dunnage-style warehouse are both repurposed agricultural structures, substantially modified and reclad, and Colville is growing between a third and a half of Kythe’s malt requirements, with one batch already harvested.
The variety is Maris Otter, better known as a brewing malt, but with a higher protein content than many distillation-specific barley strains, helping to establish what MacRaild calls “the building blocks of flavour.”
Flavour is firmly centre stage in everything associated with Kythe. The use of Maris Otter barley is just the first of many points where the distillery team departs from modern whisky-making orthodoxy, declaring that “efficiency is the enemy of character.”
“Our ethos is to eschew outdated and tired obsessions about yield, efficiency, tourism and standardisation of character. Instead, we favour a ruthlessly ideological process founded in the best ingredients, the right equipment, exacting method, and relentlessly holding ourselves to the standards demonstrated by the greatest bottled distillates from Scotland’s past.”
Accordingly, yields may be as low as 310 litres per tonne of malted barley, according to MacRaild, while major players in the industry aspire to 420 litres per tonne. It follows that to make economic sense of such figures, the whisky produced at Kythe will have to be very impressive indeed. MacRaild explains, “For us, value is derived entirely from quality. All of us have differing careers to date, but all very serious about quality.”
McMillan adds, “We set the bar very high for ourselves. The first few years will be scary, as we won’t be sure how the spirit will evolve.”
The distillery has been designed to allow a significant degree of flexibility. MacRaild notes, “There will be lots of tests and experimentations in small quantities, especially in the early days. We will develop one distinctive distillery character and once we feel we’ve nailed it, that’s what we will distil. Maybe we’ll use different malt types for different years and we’d like certain vintages to become notable.”
Given the Kythe team’s aims, it is not surprising to discover that the whisky-making equipment in situ is notably traditional in design. The one-tonne mash tun is manually operated by wooden paddle, with MacRaild explaining that “we’ll be doing more of a brewing style of mash so should get clear wort. That should then ferment in a way which encourages fruit flavour formation. If we use low-attenuating ex-brewing yeast we'll get a long, slow fermentation.”
A total of eight wooden washbacks may seem excessive for a distillery that is only likely to turn out 50,000 to 60,000 lpa per year, but then the Kythe team plans to allow fermentations to last for up to two weeks.
In terms of wash still distillation, the clock has truly been turned back with the installation of a vessel that is directly fired by sustainably sourced air-dried logs, while the spirit still is powered by steam. The use of direct firing with its very high temperatures leads to the creation of flavour compounds that are not otherwise formed.
The pair of stills was fabricated by Forsyths. MacRaild explains, “We wanted a squat, fat, dumpy wash still — we had Bowmore in mind. We should get something nice and heavy with the wood firing and the more elegant spirit still will take out the fatty low wines. We want waxiness and weight and rich fruit character, and the stills have wooden worm tubs for condensing.”
McMillan admits, “There will be a steep learning curve for the wood firing, but Gordon Grant, formerly of Ardmore, where they continued direct-firing until 2001, will help with the commissioning. If whisky doesn’t work out, we’ll have the world’s most expensive pizza oven!”
Spirit made courtesy of that ‘pizza oven’ will be matured in first-fill bourbon casks and refill hogsheads, along with some ex-solera sherry butts. “We want casks that have been used for drinking sherry, not just sherry-seasoned, and overall, we’re into not overly active wood,” says MacRaild. “No wine casks and no virgin oak.”
When it comes to the financing of Kythe Distillery, he explains, “It’s funded by like-minded passionate whisky geeks. Around 30 of them, all bought fully into the idea. No venture capital. They all want to drink old-style Highland malt.”
McMillan adds, “We would hope to put out a five-year-old whisky, but when we release it will depend entirely on quality. No flash and showiness, just a very strong product.” In the words of the founders, lack of ‘flash and showiness’ extend to “no visitor facilities, gift shop, tearoom, or Instagrammable area.”
Harking back to the meaning of ‘kythe’, it seems highly likely that the whisky made at this unique distillery will ‘become known’ for the most positive of reasons. Turning the clock backwards could be the best way forward for the integrity of this Scotch malt whisky.
More information on the project can be found at www.kythedistillery.com.
