A Scottish distillery founded by a former golf caddie has just opened a putting green. It is thought to be the only distillery with putting practice facilities. Well, certainly in Scotland.
The gin (Darnley’s) and scotch Kingsbarns Distillery was founded by local caddie, Douglas Clement in 2009 and the new addition offers a relaxed and accessible experience designed to appeal to golfers, whisky enthusiasts and tourists in search of something authentically and uniquely Scottish.
Last year, the distillery released its Kingsbarns’ Caddies’ Dream whisky.Top of Form
Every golfer knows about St Andrews but does every whisky drinker?
The Dunvegan Hotel, around the corner from the Valley of Sin and the 18th green of the historic Old Course, is one of the most famous ‘19th holes’ in the world of golf. And now it has been honored with its whisky.
The limited edition ‘19th Hole’ 2026 Golf Release single malt Lowland whisky (£120) was aged for 10 years in an ex-Oloroso American oak sherry butt, infusing it with notes of toffee, candied orange and baking spice.
St Andrews, an hour north-east of Edinburgh, is now the home of whisky as well as golf. Mash tuns have taken over from mashie niblicks.
Now landmarks like the five-star Old Course Hotel, the 2-mile long West Sands, made famous in “Chariots of Fire”, the pier on which students process in their scarlet robes after chapel, the 1854 Royal & Ancient clubhouse where the rules of gold are decided and the 700-year-old bridge over the Swilcan Burn, so often the backdrop for photographs of the world’s greatest golfers, are now being used to showcase some of Scotland’s best modern premium whiskies.
The ancient town of St Andrews where the kings of Scotland were once crowned and where the future king Prince William met his bride Kate Middleton, now the Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Edinburgh, while undergraduates at the UK’s third oldest university (founded in 1413) is now quickly building a reputation among whisky lovers.
It has become the home of “The Neuk” cocktail, for which you need 50ml Darnley’s Navy Strength Gin, 5ml Wemyss Malts Peat Chimney Whisky or similar and 5ml Noilly Dry Vermouth. Then pour all the ingredients into a mixing glass, add ice and stir well until the glass is frosted. Finally, double strain into a martini glass.
And the Peat Chimney Pencillin, for which you require 50ml Peat Chimney Blended Malt Scotch Whisky, 25ml lemon juice, 20ml honey ginger syrup and a lemon wheel.
As well as the Peat Chimney Smoky Colada, which is a mix of 50ml Peat Chimney Blended Malt Scotch Whisky, 25ml banana liqueur, 60ml coconut cream and 120ml pineapple juice.
Will Ringham, the International Brand Manager of the Wemyss Family Spirits Kingsbarns Distillery recommends other Fife core cocktails, such as a Doocot Whisky Sour, for which you will need 50ml Doocot, 25ml lemon juice, 15ml sugar syrup, and egg white (optional), a Balcomie Rob Roy, 50ml Balcomie, 25ml sweet vermouth and bitters.
To make a Coaltown Old Fashioned you need 50ml Coaltown, some sugar and bitters. Will adds:
“Another personal favourite of mine for Coaltown is substituting the gin in a Negroni for Coaltown – makes a perfectly balanced and interestingly smoky Negroni – truly fab!”
Nowadays, it’s not all about Islay, the Highlands and Speyside. The East Neuk of Fife is delivering a taste revolution.
InchDairnie Distillery has launched its first single KinGlassie malts. A hammer mill finely grinds grain to maximise flavour extraction. A mash conversion vessel replaces the traditional mash tun, ensuring a richer, more refined character and a ‘smouldering fireplace hit’.
InchDairnie’s founder, Ian Palmer says:
“Fife will become a gamechanger for those who crave complexity and depth.”
The Eden Mill Distillery offers panoramic views from its Lookout cocktail bar. As well as Cask Mastery Whisky Experience which includes a behind-the-scenes visit to the ‘Distiller’s Lab’ and access to the on-site cask warehouse. Eden Mill became Scotland’s first combined distillery and brewery in 2014. Beer production ceased in 2021.
Head Distiller, Scott Ferguson says:
“The distillery’s unique position yields a gentle, light character, accentuating notes of citrus, honey and delicate spices.”
Eden Mill has partnered with Earthshot finalist and Scottish biotech company, MiAlgaie to reuse its whisky waste and help reduce overfishing.
The long-term collaboration will see the St Andrew-based independent distillery supply MiAlgae with its whisky effluent – a by-product of distillation – which can be used to grow microalgae as an original and sustainable source of nutrient Omega-3.
Global demand for Omega-3 has increased but because it is traditionally sourced from wild-caught fish, this is helping to fuel unsustainable overfishing, with around 16 million tonnes of wild-caught oceanic fish annually.
Fife-based bottler Falkland Whisky released its first single malt. Falkland Palace is where King James IV commissioned the first recorded distillation of ‘aqua vitae’ in 1494.
Lindores Abbey Distillery sits across from the ruins of the Tironensian monastery widely acknowledged as the spiritual home of Scotch whisky.
The first written record of whisky distillation in Scotland appears in the Exchequer Rolls of 1494, which state that malt was sent “to Friar John Cor, by order of the King, to make Aqua Vitae”. That friar lived and worked at Lindores. Founder Drew McKenzie Smith, whose family has owned the Lindores estate since 1913, says:
“The history has been the gift that keeps on giving and we’re delighted to bring our award-winning 1494 Single Malt Scotch Whisky to whisky lifetime membership of the 1494 Club.”
The abbey was built in 1191 as a ‘daughter house’ to Kelso Abbey on ground given by King William I to David, Earl of Huntingdon. The monks also made rose water for King James V.
Ancient distilling equipment has been found in the grounds. The first whisky was laid down in John Woodford Reserve and Old Forester bourbon barrels three years and one day after Mr Mackenzie Smith, the current Custodian of Lindores decided to revive the abbey’s whisky-making heritage and opened a modern, state-of-the- art distillery on the historic whisky site of what many believe to be the world’s oldest recorded distillery.
Its Aqua Vitae (the original name for whisky) is a handcrafted botanical spirit which includes Douglas fir and sweet cicely. It can be drunk, amongst many other ways, with ginger ale, port, coffee and hot chocolate as well as a rhubarb and hibiscus punch.
Early marketing spiel for the Abbey’s Lowland spirits has been unearthed, enumerating age-old merits, and it says:
“It sloeth age, strengtheneth youth, it helpeth digestion, abandoneth melancholy, ilighteneth the mynd, quickeneth the spirites, cureth the hydropsie, it kepeth & preserveth the hed from whirlyng, the teeth from chatteryng, the throte from rattling, the stomacke from wambling, the belly from wirtchyng, the guts from rumbling.”
And maybe nerves jangling on the first tee of the most famous golf course in the world and on the first at the Kingsbarns Distillery putting green.
For more information, please visit: www.kingsbarnsdistillery.com.
Author Bio:
Kevin Pilley is a former professional cricketer and chief staff writer of PUNCH magazine. His humour, travel, food and drink work appear worldwide, and he has been published in over 800 titles.
Photographs courtesy of Kingsbarns Distillery
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