Hearach: noun. A native of Harris, [Scottish Gaelic].

The Hearach is the long-awaited single malt whisky from the Isle of Harris Distillery. It’s not the only new distillery to be releasing its first whisky around now. We seem to be in the midst of a boom once more for Scotch Whisky, at least for the single malts. But Harris has a particular story to tell, which it does very well. So well indeed that this first batch of the distillery’s debut release has become highly sought after and not easy to get hold of. As one lover of Harris called it, “the Miroirs of Scotch Whisky”, referring to that famous Jura unicorn domaine run by Kenjiro and Mayumi Kagami.

Harris is an island in the Outer Hebrides off Scotland’s West Coast. Although Harris and Lewis are spoken of as two separate islands, they are in fact joined by a strip of land, and it is here, where the smaller Harris is linked to the much larger Lewis to its north, that one finds the town of Tarbert and the Isle of Harris Distillery. It’s also the place where you will arrive if you take the ferry from Uig, on the Isle of Skye (for those who prefer not to take the flight to Stornaway, the largest town on Lewis).

Harris had never had a whisky distillery until production here began in 2015, at least not a legal one (Pabbay, the small island to the southwest of Harris, could supposedly once boast several hidden stills). You might already have tasted the fruits of distilling here because, as indeed many new distilleries do nowadays, the first product released was gin. And this gin has become one of the most highly regarded artisan gins in the UK, possibly to the surprise and delight of the folks here who made it. With a focus on local botanicals, in particular the sugar kelp found off the coast here, it has a singular flavour. I know at least two gin lovers way down in England who have told me it’s their favourite gin.

The whisky is, first of all, a product of the land and special circumstances show this to be a spirit of terroir (perhaps in both senses of spirit). The ground here is Lewisian gneiss from between 2.4 and 2.6 billion years ago. This is a blend of igneous and sedimentary deposits made hard by heat and pressure. They tell us these are the oldest rocks on earth. They certainly give the water source for The Hearach, the Abhainn Cnoc a’Charrain (“Red River”, perhaps because of the peaty topsoil), extremely low mineral content, making this (it is claimed) the softest water of any Scottish distillery. Malt comes from Scottish Barley (not always a given even with single malts) and is peated to 15ppm phenols with local hand-cut peat from the south of the island.

Harris may be familiar to you from the holiday snaps on social media of Les Caves’s Doug Wregg. Well, the beaches up here really are miles of white sand, giving them an air of the Caribbean. The Gulf Stream makes these seas almost equatorial, but you also get the rain associated with Scotland’s West Coast. As a result, summer and winter temperatures vary only slightly. Summers don’t reach the heights, but winter is far milder than you might suppose. This is actually very positive for whisky making and maturation, which here takes place in the coastal village of Ardhasaig. The salty sea spray is said to exert an influence something akin to that at Sanlúcar near Jerez.

Maturation is, of course, carried out in casks. Here, for the first release, they have used a mix of first-fill ex-Bourbon casks and oak barrels selected from Jerez, that contained Oloroso and Fino. I believe the suppliers are Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill and Woodford Reserve in Kentucky, and Bodega José y Miguel Martin in Spain. Maturation is currently five years plus and this release has been put out at 46% abv.

What does it taste like? Well, I picked this up yesterday and had a very small sip last night (as I was driving). So, today (Wednesday) I’m sitting here in the middle of the afternoon with a glass in front of me, for research purposes, of course.

It’s a pale spirit, reminding me of a Chablis with its pale yellow-gold and green accents in the light. The nose has a smokiness to it, and a little peat, but not too much. The bouquet is lifted with a floral freshness and delicacy, although this is in part a product of youth. The palate has apple, which is starting to come through on the nose too. For a fleeting moment it reminds me of Calvados, but then the peat works its smoky way back into my nasal passages and the thought is gone. There’s certainly spice in there, ginger. The alcohol makes its youthful presence felt. It doesn’t have the smoothness of an older whisky, but there is a touch of sweet honey, for sure. I saw someone describe the finish as “bright”, and I’m getting a combo of freshness and spirit.

I’d categorise this as a characterful whisky. I think it’s one for people like me who cherish soul and individual personality over the easy drinking whiskies. There are those who don’t like their coffee too acidic, their wine too tannic or their food too spicy. This may not be a whisky for them. It’s a whisky I find complex and thought-provoking, and for a young first release that can’t be bad.

Now that I have been able to drink a couple of glasses in more relaxed circumstances (four days after my first draft of this article), I am beginning to get to know it better. It’s a complex spirit and really very impressive. I’ve talked to a few more people who have tried it, both where I live, and randomly in Melrose, in the Borders, yesterday. It feels like being part of a little club of mutual excitement, and that takes me back to the Jura wine domaine I mentioned earlier, when admiring whispers were circulating among friends.

I must say a few things about the distillery itself and the whole “marketing” angle of The Hearach. The Isle of Harris Distillery has styled itself as a “social distillery”, meaning that there is a strong focus on the island and its people. Some have been a little negative about that angle on the basis that it has received many millions of pounds in grants, close to £2 million coming directly from the Scottish Government. The argument goes that this is a lot of money to employ twenty people. The distillery itself, and the visitor centre, are smartly designed, as is the whole package. You could never escape the pleasure people got from the very well-designed gin bottles, which no one ever throws in the recycling. The whisky bottle is no less attractive. Its box, if indeed you can call it a box, more a cardboard frame, is frankly dangerous (be extremely careful), but you get a nice booklet and even a cardboard coaster.

What those who have been critical haven’t taken into account is that the distillery is already attracting 68,000 visitors a year to the visitor centre and that’s a lot of people spending money generally on the two connected islands, where employment opportunities have been among the worst in Scotland, despite the fame of “Harris” Tweed. Many of those who stay on the island rent some very smart accommodation, and their holiday rent doesn’t always stay on Harris and Lewis, but the money they spend whilst there certainly does.

The distillery does not want for marketing expertise. You will see plenty of that repeated in this article, but to be fair they do have a good story. That story can’t fail to add lustre to the already growing lure of the two islands, which have long sat in the tourism shadow of bigger draws, like Skye, Mull and perhaps Islay, the latter certainly for whisky afficionados. I see no reason to be negative about a well-funded operation which is both attractive to visit and good at getting its message out there if what it makes is good.

I can now say that with both the gin and the whisky, the product certainly is good. In fact, exemplary. As time goes by, and the distillery is able to widen its portfolio, via a more heavily peated version (I understand), and doubtless an offering of different finishes and greater age, in the way that (for example) the Isle of Arran has, I’m pretty sure the future, and fame, of the Isle of Harris Distillery is assured.

The Hearach is relatively widely available, at least up here in Scotland. The only problem is that it is spread quite thinly and most retailers are limiting purchases to one per household. Mine came from Cork & Cask in Edinburgh, who having supported the Harris Gin from the start got a reasonable allocation. It cost £65. Harris Gin is £45.