【Exclusive Visit】Forsyths, Global Specialist of Distillation Equipment: Guided by Richard Forsyth OBE

Located in the heart of Scotch whisky culture, Speyside, Forsyths has been a pillar of whisky production for over a century.

With its eminent pot stills and a customer-centric approach, this globally recognised distillation equipment company has flourished in four generations of family businesses, carving out a unique niche in the global whisky industry.

During our visit, we had the rare privilege of being personally guided through the renowned Forsyths factory by the chairman, Richard Forsyth OBE.

Due to its exclusivity, only a few days open to the public during the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival, the behind-the-scenes production site of Forsyths remains a mystery to many. In this article, we cruise through the inside of the factory in question, revealing the gist of the world’s best pot still maker’s production process and work environment. 

About Forsyths Ltd

What is Forsyths Ltd?

Since its inception in 1890 by Alexander Forsyth, Forsyths has thrived as the world’s premier distillation equipment company.

What sets Forsyths apart is its enduring family ownership, a testament to its commitment and reliability.

Through their turnkey services, their extensive range of services and products goes beyond mere equipment production and encompasses the entire distillery, from designing to constructing.

Basic Information

Company	Forsyths Ltd
Founder	Alexander Forsyth
Location	Forsyths, Rothes, Moray, Scotland, AB38 7AD
Year of Establishment	1890
Website	Forsyths Ltd

Richard Forsyth OBE

This time, Dear WHISKY had the honour of being guided through the factory by Richard Forsyths, chairman of Forsyths Ltd. Richard started helping his father in workshops when he was 12 and officially joined the company after he graduated at 16.

He has been working for Forsyths for almost 60 years now.

Factory Visit

Where the base of whisky gets forged

Richard：
Forsyths has been in the middle of Rothes since 1972, utilising the area of the closed-down station yard.

Back then, it was only a small workshop, which grew more prominent to the point they bought Caperdonich Distillery and knocked it down to expand the workshops.

The warehouse of that distillery still remains there, with a capacity to hold around 14,000 barrels.

Process of Potstill Making

Drafting stage to plan

Richard：
This is an office where people can draft every work. We first meet with the clients to discuss the size and shape and develop the draft to determine how much copper we need.

We now mainly make pot stills from 5000L, which takes 4 men to build in 8 weeks, up to 50,000L pots, which takes 12 men to build in 20 weeks.

Preparing the ingredients

Why copper?

Richard：
It all comes down to the pliability of copper.

Its softness allows for easy rolling, cutting, and shaping, a process that requires the skilled hands of our craftsmen.

Even during the alcohol prohibition years in Scotland, making small pot stills was easier with copper, which has since become a cherished tradition.

Richard：
People soon discovered that copper was an integral part of the process when they experimented with stainless steel pot stills. These stills failed to produce the right spirit, highlighting copper’s unique ability to remove sulphurous smells.

As these smells are undesirable for quality whisky, copper became a crucial part of whisky production. 

Sourcing tonnes of copper

Richard：
We buy about 100 tonnes of copper, with the vast majority coming from copper mills in Germany. Copper comes in sheets of various thicknesses, from as thin as 3 mils to 10 mils thick, depending on usage. Pot stills are mainly constructed of 7 parts, requiring 7 sheets of plates. Since all the copper we use is 99.9% pure copper, it is often recycled after it’s used as a pot still.

Cutting pieces out

Richard：
As we get the sheets of coppers and the drafts designed in the office, we cut them here using a 50,000psi high-pressure water jet. This makes immaculate cuts for up to 6 mil thick plates. Excess copper parts would be returned to the copper mill and recycled.

Rolling the pieces out

Richard：
Large pieces are rolled out to form a cone and then welded, forming a brief silhouette of the parts.

Machine Hammering

Richard：
Hammering used to be done entirely by hand, but now we have a machine for larger hammering.

It is pretty much the same step: We put an anvil inside and hammer it from the outside, basically like a blacksmith, which in our case would be a copper smith.

Richard：
Because coppers are soft metals, they stay in that state when we anneal them, which is practical but not very strong.

Therefore, we hammer the copper for two reasons: to build a finish and strengthen it again.

Hand hammering

Richard：
Although we have machinery, lots of hammering is still done by hand.

Here, you can see them hand-battering a shape using those wooden pieces to measure the curves around the still properly.

Welding pieces together

Richard：
As you can see, big pieces are assembled here to be welded. Some parts go back into hammering once again after welding. You can already see the beautiful shapes being made.

Finished products awaiting shipment

Richard：
Here, many types and sizes of pots can still be seen.

These are all brand-new pots still awaiting shipment.

Discolouring on the surface is called tarnishing, which will be cleaned with diluted sulphuric acid before shipping. This is caused by oxidisation, which we would avoid by applying a locker after cleaning to keep its natural colour.

The lifespan of a pot still

Richard：
Parts of pot stills wear out at different times. For example, the wash’s heads, necks, and condenser still wear down first, while the bulge of the spirit still wears out first. This is because the product of the first distillation, low wines, is very volatile as it contains solids, which is very hard on the copper.

Richard：
Therefore, we go out to every customer of ours every year to test the thickness of their stills; this is part of our maintenance program.

My father used to check them by tapping on the still with a hammer, but we now have an ultrasonic tester.

The rule of thumb is that when it gets to half of its original thickness, you have to consider replacing it.

Washbacks and more

Richard：
This section makes stainless steel washbacks. Although stainless steel washbacks are very popular today, we still produce some wooden ones.

Different parts of the fermenter or mash tuns are made separately and welded together using this automatic welding machine.

Products are placed on a turn table and slowly spin to be welded vertically and circumferentially. 

Richard：
Various smaller steel pipes are also made here for the distillery’s process pipes. Believe it or not, the bulk of distillery projects will mainly involve stainless steel pipework.

Station Hotel

Richard also kindly invited us to The Station Hotel, which is owned by Forsyths.

The hotel is designed with a whisky theme, with each room named after a distillery and copper used for little features inside.

The bar inside, Spirit Safe, has over 500 different whiskies and gins from all over the world. On its menu, you can find the rarest whiskies, including many ghost distilleries.

At Last

Despite technological enhancement and modernisation of the distillation process, Forsyths’ production methods combine diligent tradition and efficient machinery.

Even at such a massive production capacity and business size, most of Forsyths’ equipment is hand-treated by numerous craftsmen throughout the process.

Walking through the factory, literally every aspect of distillation equipment can be spotted, from the smallest pipes to massive pot stills.