Reopened ‘ghost’ Scotch whisky distilleries offer tastes of past and future

Shut in 1983, Scotland’s Brora and Port Ellen distilleries are open again and making old-style whiskies and new kinds at eye-watering prices

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Port Ellen on the island of Islay in the Hebrides is one of two recently reopened “ghost” distilleries in Scotland that have released their first Scotch single malt whiskies in decades. Photo: Port Ellen

Victoria Burrows

Published: 4:15pm, 1 Jan 2025Updated: 1:33pm, 10 Jan 2025

Corrected [1:32pm, 10 Jan, 2025]

[1:32pm, 10 Jan, 2025]
A photograph of Aimée Morrison was credited to the author in error. The caption has been updated.

Setting up a distillery to make whisky requires playing the long game.

Once all the equipment is in place and the barley is malted, mashed, fermented and distilled into alcohol, it takes another three years of maturing in an oak cask before the spirit produced can legally – at least in Scotland – be called whisky.

The most sought-after whiskies lie in wood barrels for far longer, usually decades. In the case of two ambitious Scotch whisky projects that came to fruition in 2024, you can add a couple of centuries to their whisky-making stories.

One of them is at Brora, a distillery in the far north of the Scottish Highlands that was opened in 1819 and closed in 1983. It was a “ghost” distillery until 2021 when, in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, British drinks giant Diageo reopened it.

The Brora distillery in the far north of the Scottish Highlands had been closed for more than three decades when drinks giant Diageo reopened it in 2021. Photo: Victoria Burrows

In July 2024, the reopened distillery’s first new-make spirit (clear, undiluted distillate) officially came of age.

To celebrate, Brora launched the Eras of Brora tour (£1,800 or US$2,260 for two), which includes the chance to taste the Brora 3-Year-Old from one of the very first casks.