About Us

ABOUT US

The People. The Place. The Spirits.

We, at North Point Distillery, pride ourselves in creating small batches of premium, authentically Scottish spirits and making every effort to leave as little impact on our environment as possible as we do so.

We believe in the beautiful far north of Scotland; it’s a place like no other. With breathtaking views and spectacular community, it’s the only place in the world we’d ever want to call home. The spirits we create pay homage and thanks to this beautiful home of ours, with our Pilot Rum recalling tales of the past, our Spiced Rum evoking childhood memories, our Crosskirk Bay Gin living loudly in the now, and our Single Malt Whisky, Dalclagie, taking us forward with anticipation.

The Distillery

North Point Distillery was founded in 2020 during an unprecedented time of remote-working and lockdown protocols.

Starting with one still in a single room and a team of 4, we have since expanded into an internationally award winning distillery recognised for quality of product, sustainability practices, and our amazing staff members.

Now boasting a team of 14 with more to join, we are excited to share more of our journey with you.

THE DISTLLERY

About Forss

FORSS

Built as a US Navy Radio Listening Site for NATO during the Cold War, this site has a wealth of history and connection to the neighbouring towns and villages.

The Americans left the site in the ‘90s, at which point the site was mostly vacant except for the odd event hosted here by the local communities, making use of the many features of the site, such as a bowling alley, basketball court, olympic-sized pool, and the baseball diamond built by the Americans, which until recently, was maintained and used for locals to try their hand at the beloved American pastime. A cairn was built upon the Americans’ departure, which overlooks the Pentland Firth and is accessible to view, upon which is written, “Supporting the fleet was our mission, world peace was our goal.”

North Point Distillery moved onto the site in June of 2020, beginning with one building, housing our first still, and since then expanding into a second to accommodate our fourth.

Other histories of the site include the nearby 12th Century ruin, St Mary’s Chapel, as well as another cairn marking the site of what is believed to be the very first broch ever built.

With the smuggler stories of Crosskirk Bay, the Pilots of the Pentland Firth, and the impact of the Forss River mills, this place is tied securely to its people and honoured through our spirits.

VISIT US

Visit Us

Our distillery is based on the Forss Business and Energy Park, just off the A836 and North Coast 500 route.

Turn at the brown sign for North Point Distillery, onto the Forss Business and Energy Park site; drive straight ahead through the old security gates and continue on, following signs for North Point Distillery.

Satnav postcode: KW14 7UZ

What3words: urgent.theory.easily

Phone number: 01847 808120
Email: hello@northpointdistillery.com

On-Season Hours (April to September)

Monday to Saturday: 10:00 - 17:30

Sunday: Closed

Off-Season Hours (September to April)

Monday - Friday: 10:00 - 17:30

Saturday: Closed

Sunday: Closed

Holiday Hours

December 24, 2023 to January 14, 2024: Closed

Reopening January 15, 2024

THE FUTURE

2020

North Point Distillery is born.

After years of planning, friends Struan Mackie and Alex MacDonald found North Point Distillery in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, choosing a site in Forss, West Caithness. Read more here.

The distillery received planning permission from the Highland Council and distilling begins in Winter 2020.

The first still, named Sandie(y) Stroma, arrived on site and begins producing a range of Highland Rum and Gins.

The Distillery celebrates its' first Christmas, launching North Point Pilot Rum and two Distiller's Editions.

2021

An award-winning products and expansion at Forss

The distillery begins a private bottling service, producing a number of small-batch offerings to national acclaim.

The site sees some major changes, with our stillhouse wall knocked through to create a set-down area for production!

Awards begin to flow, with Crosskirk Bay Gin and Skerra Spiced Rum winning Scottish Food and Drink Awards in Glasgow. The first of three Sustainability Awards from the Gin Guide.

Tours begin at Forss, welcoming visitors to explore West Caithness and discover our range of spirits.

With the help of a borrowed forklift, the first of four washbacks arrive at North Point Distillery. Reclaimed wood from a historic blending plant in Kilmarnock, this investment allowed the distillery to double its fermented capacity. The washbacks are named Angus, Duncan, Alexander and William.

2022

Continued growth and renewed purpose

Expansion of the distillery continues at pace, with 'Gertie' a 1000L wash still installed to support additional production and a 200L research and development still called 'Audrey'.

Warehouse 1, Skaill House, is opened and cask are laid down for the first time in our K-Rax systems, imported from the United States.

Crosskirk Bay Gin becomes one of the best London Dry Gins in the world, scoring a truly exceptional 98 points out of 100 at the International Wine and Spirits Competition.

North Point Spiced Rum becomes our first product to be stocked in a national supermarket, being listed in Co-operative stores across Scotland.

Our production team swells to five members of staff, supporting the distilleries expansion and offering development roles to the local community for the first time.

The distillery sponsors Reay Golf Clubs North Point Open for the first time, offering one of the best prizes in amateur golf... a very special cask of either Rum or Gin. With cocktail evenings being hosted for the first time in our renovated tasting room.

2023

Gold Awards and Whisky!

Nettie, our newest still, is installed at North Point Distillery. More than doubling our still capacity, she is the largest of our four stills and designed with a very special spirit in mind.

The team becomes fourteen strong, with two newborns to boot! And our team win Craft Producer of the Year from the World Rum Awards, securing the Icons of Rum Accolade.

The Distillery secured double gold medals at the 2023 Scottish Gin Awards, scooping Scotland's best London Dry Gin and the Excellence in Sustainability award.

After two years distilling in secret, North Point Distillery announces the launch of its very own Single Malt Whisky, Dalclagie.

The Future

The People. The Place. The Spirits.

We have a couple of products in the background that we plan to launch in 2024, and get back to expressing our creativity through more Distiller’s Editions. More news around expansion and plans for potential cold war bunker tours to follow.

Why don't you join us on our journey... you can subscribe here to be the first to know about our latest news and developments at the distillery!

Meet The Team

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Struan Mackie

Co-Founder

As a North Coast native, Struan is passionate about all things Caithness. With experience within the spirits industry as a former consultant and amateur connoisseur, Struan’s love of Scotch Whisky and Rum amplifies his drive as our Co-Founder and Head of Finance as he maintains the distillery’s back-office activity, covering procurement, finance, and regulation.

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Alex MacDonald

Co-Founder

The Canadian-born Co-Founder is a graduate of the University of St. Andrews with a BSc in Business and a passion for spirits. With years of experience growing startups and young businesses, he is a vital part of the success of North Point Distillery and its unprecedented growth in these few short years. As the Head of Sales, his guidance and expertise in the area are invaluable for the team who manage the day-to-day sales operations, as well as cask sales, and large scale trade orders.

Greg Benson

Distiller

A Heriot-Watt graduate with an MSc in Brewing and Distilling, Greg is always learning and striving for improvement, and would never call himself a Master Distiller; however, the accolades that trail his creations would say otherwise. The combination of his technical skills, his passion for distilling, and true love of spirits has resulted in unique-but-classic spirit creations and a Whisky that will certainly mark him as the Distiller-to-watch for years to come.

Laura Pearce

Brand Ambassador

The first employee of North Point Distillery and an industry veteran, Laura has been representing and elevating our Distillery from the very beginning. As a Highlander herself, she effortlessly conveys the cornerstones of our Distillery while travelling the UK as our Brand Ambassador, sharing what we do and why we do it with passion and charisma. Laura has won not one but two international awards this year! Voted Best Drink Brand Ambassador of the Year for Scotland through the Influential Business Women Awards, and impressively named an Icon of Rum by the World Rum Awards, winning the Best Brand Ambassador for 2023!

Heather Ricker

Distillery Manager

Joining us from Canada almost two years ago, Heather has returned to her ancestral home, bringing with her 10 years of management expertise and a penchant for creativity and innovation, tackling everything from Social Media and Marketing, to Logistics, Sales, Human Resources, and Operations planning. Heather was voted Distillery Manager of the Year, and an Icon of Rum by the World Rum Awards.

Suzie Smith

Accounts Manager

Suzie’s personable and dedicated approach to Sales has been shaped by her experience in various industries throughout her career, as well as her passion for travel. Joining us in the last year, she’s brought an exciting and fresh perspective to our team.

Kristy Paterson

Front of House

Her compassion and kindness shine through as our Front of House Manager, greeting every guest with a smile and a story; her above-and-beyond approach to the distillery has secured our ranking as one of the best visitor experiences in Scotland.

David Meiklejohn

Distillery Foreman

Joining our team nearly 3 years ago, David has climbed the ladder of success, beginning in the bottling production line and climbing to our Distillery Foreman, overseeing the production of our spirits and the management of our warehouse.

Louis Chubb

Mashman

Tasked with the role of producing the mash, wort, and wash for our Whisky production, Louis has risen to the challenge of this ever-increasing production schedule with a determined and joyful spirit.

Rhianna Mackay

Tour Guide and Account Manager

Beginning working with us as a Tour Guide and in our Distillery Shop, Rhianna joined our team in the spring of 2023 and since then has become an accounts manager for the Caithness area.

Faye Mackay

Tour Guide and Account Manager

Joining our team in the spring of 2023, Faye began working with us as a Tour Guide and in our Shop. She has since become an accounts manager for the Aberdeenshire area.

Ellie Kevill

Business Administrator

The newest addition to the team, Ellie has been on a steep learning curve and taking it all in stride. As our Business Administrator, her inquisitive nature and attention to detail will be instrumental in the continued success of North Point Distillery.

MEET THE TEAM

Sustainability

Being on the north coast of Scotland, we witness the majesty of our planet first hand – but we’ve also witnessed the devastating effects of climate change on the wildlife populations, the weather, and the people. It’s not something we take lightly, so we’ve made every conscious effort to limit the footprint we leave behind and we are always striving to do more.

Packaging

From the very beginning, our packaging has been plastic free – from the corks, to the glass, to the labels, and even the shipping materials.

Our corks are sourced from RANKIN, who are FSC certified and practise sustainable forestry.

Our Wildly Crafted bottles are made using up to 100% recycled glass and are sourced from glass producer, Estal.

Our labels, from Image on Glass, are screen printed onto the glass using a biodegradable ink, ensuring ease of recycling and reuse of our bottles.

Our boxes are made from recycled-and-recyclable cardboard, sourced from Atlas and Flexi Hex, and we use compostable paper tape exclusively.

Stills

All of our Stills are electrically fired and free of emissions.

While they vary in size, all 4 Stills are bespoke, copper-pot Stills with shell-and-tube condensers, and are outfitted with the option to switch from electricity to steam generation.

The Site

We’re fortunate to have two methods of clean energy production on site with us.

The Wind Farm generates power for the site, surrounding areas, and adds to the national grid.

The AD Plant takes our pot ale, converting it into biogas – some of which is used to heat our site and in the future, may be used for steam generation for our Stills.

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Community

Our community thrives when we are connected to each other.

Local livestock farmers are a key to our waste management, taking our Draff (the grain after the mashing process in Whisky production) to feed to their animals.

Casks can only be used so many times for spirit production before they no longer provide any flavour or colour; when this happens, we provide local craftsmen and artisans with these casks to be remade into furniture, bottle openers, and other beautiful products – some of which are sold in our Distillery Shop and are used around the Distillery.

Reusing materials

Recycling is great, but we’re big proponents of reusing materials wherever possible.

Our Tasting Room table was created using spent casks from our Distillery, as were our flight stands, and the stave wall in our entry hall.

Glass bottles repurposed as water carafes, for plant propagation, as vases, and even transformed into plant pots, can also be seen around the Distillery.

Production Process

The liquid going into the casks and bottles is no exception to our sustainability efforts.

We source our ingredients and botanicals locally whenever possible, and botanicals such as gorse, Scots pine, rowan berries, and sea buckthorn are hand foraged when in season; we ensure all international ingredients and botanicals come from Fairtrade and ethical suppliers.

Whether it’s juniper from Italy or Molasses from the Caribbean we take responsible procurement incredibly seriously.

Our malt supplier, Crisp, is a like-minded company, striving for sustainability in all aspects of their business – they’ve recently published their inaugural Sustainability Report, which is guided by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).