Strathearn

Type: Distillery

About one barrel of spirit a day: that is the scale described by Strathearn’s producer and 2024 trade coverage.[3][5] Set in a stone farm steading near Methven, close to Crieff in Highland Perthshire, this small distillery began in 2013 with founder Tony Reeman-Clark. Douglas Laing & Co acquired it outright on 23 October 2019, making it the Glasgow bottler’s first distillery. Its subsequent single malts connect the founder’s experimental approach with the new owner’s investment in production.[1][2][6][8]

At a glance

What Strathearn is known for

Small scale and hands-on production define Strathearn. In its account accompanying the April 2024 single malt release, Douglas Laing describes a fully handmade process without automation.[3]

That account tells the reader more than “probably Scotland’s smallest distillery”, a description repeated in trade coverage of the earlier operation.[1][2][5] The phrase captures the modest scale of Strathearn’s beginnings, but it is a historical description, not a current ranking: the equipment changed after the acquisition.

The premises are a stone farm steading, not a purpose-built industrial complex.[2][8] Inside that modest setting, the early operation pursued a broad programme: small casks, different approaches to distillation and spirits beyond whisky. Experimentation was part of Strathearn from the outset. Its story is as much about trying different methods as maintaining a fixed recipe.

From a festival conversation to a Perthshire distillery

A conversation with friends at an Edinburgh whisky festival helped set Strathearn in motion, according to the trade account of the business.[1] Reeman-Clark had worked as an engineer and IT manager before turning to distilling. The modern distillery he founded in 2013 is the starting point of this history.[5]

The early production record shows the breadth of the operation. Trade reporting describes peated and unpeated spirit, double and triple distillation, and maturation in sherry, rum and bourbon casks.[2] It also records briefly wood-aged spirits described as uisge beatha, using mulberry and chestnut.[6]

Those details reveal an exploratory operation rather than a single, settled recipe. They belong to the founder’s production period and should be read separately from the changes after 2019 and the stated composition of individual releases. A cask or distillation method recorded in Strathearn’s early years does not describe every later bottling.

Story box: a bottler becomes a distiller

Small equipment, followed by investment

An 800 litre wash still and 50 litre octaves give a concrete sense of early Strathearn. Scotchwhisky.com records both the still and these small maturation casks. Wikipedia describes two Portuguese alembic stills made by Hoga for the sherry trade; both sources were checked in November 2026.[2][8] These are historical descriptions, not specifications for the equipment installed after the acquisition.

In October 2019, reported maximum capacity was 100,000 litres of pure alcohol a year, with actual output far lower.[6] This was the installation’s stated potential, not the amount of whisky made that year.

Douglas Laing followed its purchase with larger stills, a new mash tun and additional washbacks, the vessels used for fermentation.[5] The investment changed the production equipment, although the record supplies no precise new capacity figure.

The producer and 2024 trade coverage describe production as about one barrel of spirit a day.[3][5] Unlike the historical capacity figure, this is a daily production description. It cannot be turned into an annual total without the working schedule and measurement basis.

The producer’s production account

Smell and taste guide production decisions, including the cuts, according to Douglas Laing.[3] Cuts separate the portions of a distillation run collected for the intended spirit. This is the practical detail behind the producer’s emphasis on sensory judgement.

The raw-material choice is equally specific: Maris Otter is the only malt used.[3] The supplied evidence does not isolate a flavour effect attributable to that malt alone.

Angela Brown is named as lead distiller in both the producer’s account and the 2024 trade coverage.[3][5] These details give a clearer picture of the people, materials and working methods at Strathearn, while remaining an attributed production account rather than a tasting description of a particular bottle.

Single malt releases and the meaning of “first”

Disputed: Trade reports date Strathearn’s first single malt release to August 2016: 100 bottles from one cask, described as three years and one day old.[5][6] Wikipedia also gives 2017 as a first release date and October 2013 as the date of first distillation.[8] The dates do not fit together. Whisky aged three years and one day in August 2016 would have been distilled before October 2013, leaving the chronology in need of further verification.

Disputed: Wikipedia records The Heart in 2022 as the first single malt under Douglas Laing, while the producer called its April 2024 launch an “inaugural release”.[3][8] Whether The Heart was a general release is not reliably established. Neither account makes the 2024 bottling Strathearn’s first single malt.

The April 2024 release is a clear milestone in its own right. Douglas Laing says it drew on 32 selected casks of ex-bourbon, virgin and ex-sherry oak. It was bottled at 50% ABV, non-chill-filtered and with no added colour.[3] Whisky Advocate reports that it combined spirit made under the previous owners with spirit made under Douglas Laing.[5]

That combination links two distinct production periods in one release. The cask selection and bottling specifications describe this whisky, not the whole Strathearn range or every subsequent batch. For other Highland distillery histories, see the Edradour profile and the Aberfeldy profile.

The release chronology continues with Strathearn Highland Single Malt Batch 03, reported released on 5 August 2026.[9] Its place in the story is recorded, but its composition needs a batch-specific account: the 2024 cask recipe cannot simply be carried forward.

Production and ownership timeline

Other spirits and common misunderstandings

Scottish cider brandy was another expression of Strathearn’s early appetite for experiment. In 2016, the distillery collaborated with Thistly Cross Cider on a release issued in single-cask batches of 200 bottles.[7] The collaboration is a documented part of its wider spirits work, without requiring a claim to national priority.

The gin and rum story follows a different ownership path. When Douglas Laing bought the distillery, the Strathearn gin brands and Dunedin Rum remained with The Whisky Garden Ltd, controlled by Burke.[4][6] The shared Strathearn name can therefore obscure an important distinction: buying the distillery did not mean acquiring all the spirits associated with it.

Where to go next

• Edradour: continue with another distillery profile.
• Aberfeldy: broaden your reading within the Highland distillery collection.
• Ardnamurchan: explore a separate distillery history and production account.

Sources

1. Scotchwhisky.com. Strathearn Distillery Limited. Undated trade reference, supplied version checked November 2026. https://scotchwhisky.com/whiskypedia/4762/strathearn-distillery-limited/
2. Scotchwhisky.com. Strathearn. Undated trade reference, supplied version checked November 2026. https://scotchwhisky.com/whiskypedia/1893/strathearn/
3. Douglas Laing & Co. Douglas Laing marks its distilling debut with the launch of its Strathearn Single Malt. Producer’s release account, 2024. https://corporate.douglaslaing.com/public-relations/douglas-laing-marks-its-distilling-debut-with-the-launch-of-its-strathearn-single-malt
4. Scottish Licensed Trade News. Douglas Laing & Co buys Strathearn. 31 October 2019. https://sltn.co.uk/2019/10/31/douglas-laing-acquires-strathearn/
5. Whisky Advocate. Strathearn Distillery Releases Its First Whisky Under Douglas Laing Ownership. 16 April 2024. https://whiskyadvocate.com/Douglas-Laing-Strathearn-Single-Malt
6. Whisky Magazine. Douglas Laing Acquires Strathearn Distillery. 24 October 2019. https://whiskymag.com/articles/douglas-laing-acquires-strathearn-distillery/
7. The Spirits Business. Strathearn Distillery unveils Scottish cider brandy. 29 June 2016. https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2016/06/strathearn-distillery-unveils-scottish-cider-brandy/
8. Wikipedia. Strathearn distillery. Supplied revision checked November 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strathearn_distillery
9. Whisky Clan. Strathearn Distillery: Methven History, Douglas Laing Owner and Stills. Undated trade article, supplied version checked November 2026. https://www.whisky-clan.com/post/strathearn-distillery-perthshire-s-tiny-farm-steading-distillery

This desk-researched article uses the supplied verified fact sheet, distinguishing producer statements from trade reporting and retaining its recorded release-date disagreements.

Last checked: November 2026