Scapa distillery is a
Scotch whisky distillery on
The Mainland of
Orkney, Scotland on the shore of
Scapa Flow near the town of
Kirkwall
Kirkwall ( sco, Kirkwaa, gd, Bàgh na h-Eaglaise, nrn, Kirkavå) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland.
The name Kirkwall comes from the Norse name (''Church Bay''), which later changed to ''Kirkv ...
.
Scapa is the second-northernmost whisky distillery in Scotland, south of the
Highland Park Distillery
Highland Park distillery is the second northernmost single malt Scotch whisky distillery in Scotland ( Kimbland Distillery on Sanday being 22 miles further north), located in Kirkwall on the Orkney Islands.
History
Highland Park distillery wa ...
.
History
The distillery was founded in 1885 by Macfarlane & Townsend, a Glasgow blender.
The distillery was almost destroyed by fire in 1919 but was saved by nearby sailors of the remaining
Grand Fleet
The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
History
Formed in August 1914 from the F ...
forming a human chain carrying buckets of sea water to extinguish the fire.
In 1954, the distillery was acquired by Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd (now part of
Pernod Ricard) and rebuilt.
The distillery was again refurbished in 1978.
In 1994 the distillery was mothballed, with limited production being occasionally carried out from 1997 by nearby staff from
Highland Park distillery
Highland Park distillery is the second northernmost single malt Scotch whisky distillery in Scotland ( Kimbland Distillery on Sanday being 22 miles further north), located in Kirkwall on the Orkney Islands.
History
Highland Park distillery wa ...
.
Ownership of the distillery had passed to
Allied distillers
Allied Domecq PLC was an international company, headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, that operated spirits, wine, and quick service restaurant businesses. It was once a FTSE 100 Index constituent but has been acquired by Pernod Ricard. They ...
when they bought Hiram Walker in 1987 and in 2004, when facing definitive closure, the company decided to rebuild and restore the distillery at a cost of £2.1 million.
In 2005, ownership passed to
Pernod Ricard and full production recommenced in October 2005.
In 2015, a visitor centre opened at the distillery.
Production and products
![Scapa - panoramio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Scapa_-_panoramio.jpg)
The distillery has one Lomond style wash
still
A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been use ...
and one spirit still producing a
single malt whisky. It produces an especially honey flavoured whisky, and less peaty than most Island Whiskies. This is because, though the water at the source is peaty, it gets transported to the distillery through pipelines to avoid more contact with the peat. Furthermore, the malt is not dried over peat smoke. The water source is the Lingro Burn, which flows into Scapa Flow.
During the period of limited production, the most commonly available edition was the Scapa 12 years old, which was and still is a most distinctive island whisky for its subtle heathery honey plus sea taste. Because of the time-gap, to full production again, it was decided to stop the 12 years and introduce the 14 years, which was quite different from its predecessor. Both products have now all but disappeared and are only available on the secondary market. The 14-year expression of the Scapa offering was given fair-to-good reviews at international
spirit ratings
With a growing number of offerings, such as those produced by an increasing number of microdistilleries, various mechanisms have arisen to provide reviews and opinions of individual varieties of spirits. These events generally use expert panels ...
competitions. It won gold and double gold medals at the 2005 and 2008
San Francisco World Spirits Competition
The San Francisco World Spirits Competition was founded in 2001 by Anthony Dias Blue as an off-shoot of the San Francisco International Wine Competition. It assesses hundreds of entrants annually (1,407 in 2013 from 63 countries) with tastings inv ...
s, but received a more modest score of 85 (on a 100-point scale) in 2005 from the Beverage Testing Institute.
In November 2009, a 16 years old Scapa whisky was released, with an extra two years in first fill American oak casks.
The 16-year-old was discontinued in 2016.
The core products of the distillery are currently Skapa Skiren (matured in American first fill oak casks) and Skapa Glansa (a lightly smoked peat whisky). Skapa Glansa was launched in 2016 and is a no age statement whisky.
See also
*
Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden ca ...
*
Scotch whisky
*
List of whisky brands
*
List of distilleries in Scotland
This is an incomplete list of whisky distilleries in Scotland. According to the Scotch Whisky Association there were 138 distilleries licensed to produce Scotch whisky in the calendar year 2020.
Currently operating distilleries
Malt whisky di ...
References
External links
Scapa website
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1885 establishments in Scotland
Buildings and structures in Orkney
Companies based in Orkney
Pernod Ricard brands
Scottish malt whisky
Mainland, Orkney