About us
Our still. Our casks. Our vats.
Our stills.
Our copper stills are our pride and joy - and pride and joys always need a name. So, meet Sandy Stroma, Gertie and Audrey.
How did we come up with those names? And what can each of them do?
Sandy Stroma: Our Spirit Still
Stroma means ‘man’s defender’, which is very fitting as the North Point Pilots were defending men and ships who approached the Pentland Firth. Also, on a more personal level, Alex’s mum is called Sandie and Struan’s dad is known as Sandy, so it seems the name was meant to be… at least that’s what the parents thought! Sandy means ‘man’s defender’, which is very fitting as the North Point Pilots were defending men and ships who approached the Pentland Firth.
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Stroma is an island off Caithness. It used to be home for fishermen, crofters and, you guessed it, the pilots. Slowly people left the island and in 1997, the remaining residents (the lighthouse keepers and their family) moved out too, leaving it uninhabited… The island is now owned by a family who use it to graze sheep - very lucky sheep we’d say! Sandy Stroma is as unique as the spirits it produces.
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Designed by D.E.S Subotica, it’s electronically powered. There’s a traditional Whisky helmet, a Brandy and Rum column, as well as a botanical Gin basket. Our experiments have been extremely exciting (and tasty) and we cannot wait for you to try them.
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Gertie: Our Wash Still
Gertie, or Gertrude to use here Sunday name, is named after Struan's granny! Installed in 2022, Gertie became the workhorse of the distillery, with her copper pot holding over 1,000 litres of liquid.
Designed by D.E.S Subotica, it’s electronically powered too. But unlike our other stills operates in pot-still only.
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Audrey: Our Research and Development Still
Audrey is named after Alex's Scottish granny! Installed in 2022 along with Gertie, this still took over our research and development duties from Stroma. Sitting in at a little under 250 litres, Audrey is our smallest still and allows us to produce short-run products for our shop and our trade customers.
Designed by D.E.S Subotica, it is also electronically powered but has a gin basket and Alembic helmet, making her perfect for Gin experementation!
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Our casks and vats.
Quality casks are vital for creating a perfectly balanced spirit. That’s why we hand select every cask that we use to batch, mature and finish your bottle of Pilot Rum. Working closely with local distilleries and a global cask broker, we have curated a truly unique range of casks within the craft Rum world: with ex-whisky casks from the Scottish Highlands, former Sherry butts from Spain, and even a selection of Rum barrels from the Caribbean.
In 2020, we purchased two batching vats from Joseph Brown of Dufftown that happen to have a long and storied past - as you can tell, we do enjoy a good heritage story. So, having spent the last three decades as blending tanks for one of the most illustrious brands in blended Scotch Whisky, the Oregon Pine timber was reclaimed and fashioned into two bespoke vats for our distillery.
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In 2023, we added to our Oregon Pin vats by adding two additional fermentation tanks from Joseph Brown and two mid-sized Oak fermenters from renowned German coopers Wilhelm Eder.
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