Our Process
Scotland's smallest whisky distillery
How we make our whisky
Seven steps. Pure ingredients. No shortcuts. From raw Scottish barley to hand-selected cask.
It starts with Scottish malted barley
Every bottle of Stirling whisky begins with 100% Scottish malted barley. We don't compromise on the raw material — the grain sets the character of everything that follows.
Malted barley arrives ready to work. The malting process — germination and kilning — has already unlocked the enzymes that will later convert starches into fermentable sugars. The foundation of the spirit is laid before we've touched it.
Turning grain into wort
The malted barley is milled and mixed with hot water. The heat activates the natural enzymes in the grain, dissolving the starches into fermentable sugars. The sweet liquid that results — called wort — is drawn off, cooled, and transferred to fermentation.
We use pure water. In whisky-making, that's not a selling point — it's a minimum standard.
Long fermentation. More character.
Yeast is added to the cooled wort and fermentation begins. We run a longer fermentation than most distilleries — a deliberate choice that allows the liquid to develop fruity esters, more depth, and greater complexity before it ever reaches the still.
This is one of the least visible decisions in whisky-making. Rush it and the spirit suffers. Give it time and it rewards you with layers that no shortcut can replicate.
Copper pot stills. Nothing more, nothing less.
The wash is distilled in our copper pot stills at The Old Smiddy. Copper is an active ingredient — it reacts with the spirit as it rises, stripping sulphur and shaping a cleaner, fruitier character in the final liquid.
What comes off the still is new make spirit: clear, high-strength, and full of raw energy. This is whisky before time does its work — and ours just won a World Whiskies Award.
World Whiskies Award 2025 — Best Scottish New Make
Every cask is hand-selected
The new make spirit is filled into hand-selected casks. The wood will contribute more to the finished whisky's colour and flavour than almost any other single factor — so we don't treat it as an afterthought.
Not every cask makes the cut. Each one is chosen for the character it will add over the years that follow.
A traditional dunnage warehouse. Time does the rest.
The filled casks rest in our traditional dunnage warehouse — the kind of cool, earthen-floored storage that has been used in Scottish whisky-making for centuries. Spirit expands into the wood in summer warmth, contracts and draws back in winter cold.
Colour develops. Harsh edges soften. The raw character of the new make is gradually shaped by the wood into something more considered. We first filled casks on 27 November 2023. The wait is already underway.
First Stirling whisky since 1852. Coming 2027.
When the time is right — and not before — the casks will be assessed, nosed, and drawn down for bottling as the first Stirling whisky since 1852. We won't rush it for a calendar date.
Scotland's smallest whisky distillery. Every bottle made by hand, from grain to glass.
Be part of it
Ready to try what's already made?
Try the award-winning new make spirit now — or join the waitlist to be first in line when the 2027 release drops.
