【Distillery Visit】Kingsbarns Distillery: Lowland-style whisky from the Kingdom of Fife

Established in 2014 at the eastern edge of the Kingdom of Fife, Kingsbarns Distillery is a testament to the passion and expertise of the “Wemyss Malts“. Since its 2019 release, this independent distillery has been developing its single malt and gaining popularity. Kingsbarns Distillery offers a wide range of whisky varieties, demonstrating its commitment to quality and innovation. Nestled in the picturesque Kingdom of Fife, Kingsbarns Distillery is a beacon of the region’s rich whisky heritage.

As one of the few distilleries in this beautiful area, it shines with its classic Lowland-style whisky and a historically acclaimed building, inviting whisky enthusiasts and history buffs alike to embark on a unique journey of taste and discovery.

About Kingsbarns Distillery

What is Kingsbarns Distillery?

Kingsbarns Distillery is a family-owned distillery rejuvenated from an over 200-year-old farm building in St. Andrews, a town on the East coast of Fife, Scotland. Its original buildings were abandoned for years and carry countless 18th-century stone works.

This distillery was carefully constructed, ensuring not to destroy any parts of historically essential components such as the Dutch pan tile roof and Doocot.

The distillery was founded in 2014 by the Wemyss family, an aristocratic family originally from the Fife area, who already had experience in the alcoholic beverage industry through gin production and independent bottling.

Why build the distillery in Fife?

As an area for the “home of golf”, St Andrew’s, the idea for this distillery was brought by a golf caddy.

Douglas Clements, the caddy in question, was often asked by his golf clients if they wanted to visit a whisky distillery as part of their Scottish experience. Since no whisky distillery was nearby, Douglas decided to get investors and restore this old farm building into a distillery. He chose this historic building partially because he could get a government grant as part of a historic building restoration program. This is when the biggest investor came in, the Wemyss Family.

Wemyss family

The Wemyss family, with generations of experience in the whisky and spirits industry, now owns Kingsbarns Distillery.

For centuries, they have owned a vineyard in France and joined the spirits industry in 2005 as an independent bottler. Eventually, in 2010, they started a gin business as well. Wemyss’s siblings, William and Isabella, run Kingsbarns Distillery. William looks after the business side, and Isabella is responsible for blending and selecting products.

Promotion Video

For a quick overview of The Kingsbarns Distillery, check out their official video (Link is cited from Kingsbarns Distillery Promotional Video).

Basic Information

Distillery	Kingsbarns Distillery
Founder	William Wemyss
Location	Kingsbarns, St Andrews KY16 8QE, United Kingdom
Year of Establishment	2014
Website	Kingsbarns Distillery

Access

It is located in the Fife region and is close to Edinburgh, only an hour and a half car ride from central Edinburgh.
By public transportation, it is around 2.5 hours by train and bus from Edinburgh Waverly station.

Kingsbarns Distillerys’ Products

Core Range

Kindsbarns Distillery has two Core Range Single Malt whiskies: Doocot and Balcomie.

Doocot, crowning its name from the house of domesticated pigeons inside the farm building, is a single malt with a light and fruity flavour, ex-Bourbon and STR wine cask.
Balcomie, named after a famous castle in Fife, on the other hand, is matured in 100% ex-Oloroso American Oak Sherry butts. It results in more decadent sweetness and fruity flavour.

Kingsbarns offers a variety of cask explorations as a Single cask release. If you would like more information, please click here.

Inside Kingsbarns Distillery

Reception

Once stepped into the reception area, its circular structure stands out. This is because back in the day, when this farm was active, this part of the building was used as an area called a horse gang. There used to be a millstone in the middle, and then a horse or a pony attached to the millstones were walking in a circle to grind the green.

Like so, visitors can still see these touches of history in the building.

Distillery Tour

Tour info

About	This tour is the perfect introduction to Scotch whisky. You will visit our exhibition space, go on a guided tour of our distillery and then be led up to one of our tasting rooms to try our new make spirit and two samples of our Kingsbarns single malts, including our award-winning ‘Doocot’.
Duration	1 hour
Prices	£16 / 8-17 yrs old £5
Opening hours	Tours are operated from 10:30-16:00, four sessions a day.
Booking	From Here.

Distillery Visit

History of the area

The history of the surrounding area and the story behind the name Kingsbanrns are explained through information panels and an old map of the Kingdom of Fife. The tour explained how the Royal Family used this agricultural area of Fife as a leisure palace, which explains the name Kingsbarns.

As part of the agricultural tradition, it is believed that spare crops could be used to distil spirits.

Although there is no direct evidence, this little farmer’s still is a prop recreating a still that was likely used back then for either extra income or farmer’s consumption.

Doocot

This room is what Scot’s call a Doocot, a pegion house.

As farms were modernised, doocots were often knocked down since pigeons were no longer popular, and chicken was the better alternative. Nowadays, the government encourages these places to be restored for historical reasons, and it was actually part of the deal to restore the doocot to how it looked and to turn the rest of the farm into a distillery.

Whisky Production

Ingredients

Water, yeast, and barley are the ingredients you need to make Scotch whisky.

Kingsbarns Distillery collects water from a 100m deep underground lake called an aquifer using a borehole.

This is because the Fife area is usually relatively dry, and there are no loch or water sources like in other places in Scotland. Water from an aquifer is very mineral rich, and Kingsbarns only removes iron and uses the water almost as it is. 

Kingsbarns uses two strains of yeasts. Since they are a young distillery, they try new things, such as a half-and-half mix of British and French yeasts. British yeast, called anchor, can efficiently turn sugars into alcohol. The other half is fermentis French yeast, which adds fruitiness to the spirit.

Kingsbarns does this to produce a classic Lowland-style whisky, which tends to be floral and fruity. 

In terms of barley, since Fife is a very popular barley producer among many Speyside distilleries, Kingsbarns has no reason not to stick to local barley. Locally in the Fife region, Laureate barley is grown and is famous for its high yields.

Milling & Mashing

Kingsbarns uses a Buehler mill made in Switzerland.

Their ratio is a standard: 20% husks, 70% grits, and 10% flour. For their mash tun, Kingsbarns has a 2-tonne capacity semi-lauter mash tun.

Fermentation

Four stainless steel washbacks are implemented at the Kingsbarns Distillery.

Worts are fermented for 3-5 days; this is on a longer scale, and it emphasises the fruity Lowland-style whisky that Kingsbarns are trying to create.

The computer you see beside the washbacks is the only part that Kingsbarns uses automation. Every other part of whisky production is done by hand.

Distillation

Kingsbarns has one each of a wash still and a spirit still, both with narrow necks and straight lyne arms to distil lighter spirits.

They run distillation relatively narrow, with longer tails to keep out those heavier and oilier compounds away since they are not ideal for Lowland-style spirits. Kingsbarns has two full-time and two part-time distillers working Monday to Friday, sometimes distilling gin accordingly.

Increasing production capacity

When you hear expanding production capacity, you might imagine milling more grists or distilling more. However, the bottleneck is fermentation since you cannot do anything about fermentation length. The only way to make this process more efficient is by having more washbacks.

Therefore, Kingsbarns is bringing in more washbacks, which are expected to boost their production capacity from 200,000 litres to 260,000 litres. 

Cask selection

Kingsbarns mainly uses Bourbon, STR wine, and Sherry casks for their core range, Doocot and Balcomie. Bourbon barrels are sourced from Heaven Hill Distillery in Kentucky, which is also family-owned.

Tasting Session

Three drams at the end of the tour

Newmake spirit

You get to try the Newmake spirit, which is very fruity and surprisingly easy to drink—notes of banana and ripe pears complemented by the subtle sweetness.

Trying the Newmake at the distillery after the tour is truly a unique experience.

Doocot

Doocot comprises two cask types: 90%  Bourbon barrels from Heaven Hill and 10% STR Red Wine barriques from Portugal. A little bit of wine cask is introduced to round off any rough edges to mellow out the whisky and add a little colour. Although it is a bourbon-forward whisky, Red Wine Barriques slightly turbo the fruity flavours. 

Balcomie

Matured 100% in American Oak ex-Oloroso Sherry cask, Balcomie has distinct fruit-forward sweetness and complexity. This bottle is also a NAS (Non-Age Statement) and is expected to be relatively young. However, the strong flavour of sherry, as well as fruity spirits, are very perceptible.

At Last

Kingsbarns Distillery is gaining worldwide popularity despite its limited production capacity. They craft traditional Lowland-style whisky using mostly non-automated and hands-on production processes.

Their unique story and character add to their allure as the world’s only whisky distillery with a Doocot.

Nevertheless, their actual value lies in their extensive whisky range and unwavering dedication to quality. While they aim to expand their whisky production while maintaining quality, they will undoubtedly face the challenge of meeting increasing demand. Get your hands on Kingsbarns Whisky while you can!