The Cabrach

Type: Distillery

The stone steadings at Inverharroch Farm have stood since 1849. Restored to house The Cabrach, a community-led distillery in Moray, they now serve a new purpose: helping regenerate the place around them. The Cabrach Trust established the project with a stated commitment to put 100% of future profits back into The Cabrach.[1][8]

At a glance

A distillery built around regeneration

The community purpose is built into the organisation. The producer describes a Community Interest Company established by a charity, The Cabrach Trust, rather than a conventional privately owned distillery.[1][8]

Alongside the distillery, the restored buildings at Inverharroch contain a café and a heritage centre. The Trust describes the heritage centre as a place to show whisky-making methods from the early 1800s, linking the new equipment to the area’s earlier production history.[3][8]

The development was expected to create 12 full-time jobs and 50 volunteering roles. These are project expectations rather than verified employment totals, but they set out the scale of its ambitions beyond spirit production. Forsyths, the Ethos Foundation and the Bently Foundation are named as founding partners.[8]

Even the membership limit of The Cabrach Collective points back to the buildings. It is capped at 1,849, a deliberate reference to the year the steadings were built, not a production figure or an age claim.[8]

The Cabrach’s production approach

Local barley, very lightly peated malt, long fermentation and worm-tub cooling define the producer’s published approach. The separate Buck Still adds a link to local distilling history: the producer attributes its inspiration to a tradition about Blackmiddens. That attribution is documented; the account of how Blackmiddens distilled is classified as Legend. No first-hand tasting is supplied for this profile.[1]

Barley, mashing and fermentation

The Cabrach says its spring barley comes from historic Banffshire, including barley grown at Inverharroch Farm. It describes all its malt as very lightly peated, without giving a measured phenol figure.[1]

The grist, the milled malt prepared for mashing, is described as 20% husk, about 67% grits and about 13% flour. Each mash uses 500 kg of grist, produces about 2,700 litres of wort and takes about five hours. A viewing window in the raised mash tun makes this stage of production visible.[1]

Fermentation takes place in six Douglas fir washbacks made in Dufftown. The producer specifies 168 hours and says this allows malolactic fermentation: a long fermentation that is central to its stated production approach.[1]

Stills and cooling

The Buck Still stands apart from the main pair: a 1,250 litre direct-fired pot still with a small internal worm tub. The producer links its design to Blackmiddens, an earlier local distillery said to have double distilled using a single pot still. The equipment specification is documented; that account of Blackmiddens’ working methods remains legend.[1]

Forsyths of Rothes built the copper stills. The main pair consists of a 2,500 litre wash still and a 1,800 litre spirit still, with worm tubs used for cooling. The producer reports a distillation rate of about two litres per minute and about six hours for each distillation.[1][8]

These producer-reported equipment and process figures were checked in November 2026. They describe the production setup, not actual annual output.[1]

Casks, community choices and a smuggling tale

Members of The Cabrach Collective have had a direct say in maturation. In March 2025, they chose the red wine cask style used in the programme. The producer says a large share of its spirit goes into French red wine barriques, while 50% goes into first-fill American oak casks from Heaven Hill.[1]

From members choosing casks, the producer’s account turns to smugglers carrying them. Local smugglers are said to have transported illicit spirit to Aberdeen in red wine casks, giving the modern choice an echo of the area’s whisky history. The supplied record classifies that transport story as Legend.[1]

Story box: Old steadings, a new community purpose

• Founding story: The producer dates the distillery’s establishment to 2024 and identifies The Cabrach Trust as the organisation that set it up. Source: producer’s distillery account.[1]
• Turning point: Substantive building work began in April 2022, taking the project into construction. Source: The Cabrach Trust’s project account.[3]
• Documented record: The Collective’s 1,849-member limit honours the steadings’ construction year. Source: The Whisky Shop’s account.[8]
• Legend or tradition: Smugglers are said to have transported illicit spirit to Aberdeen in red wine casks. Verdict: Legend. Source: producer’s distillery account.[1]
• Last checked: 7 November 2026.

Legend verdict

Earlier distilleries and the production timeline

The Cabrach’s whisky history includes licensed distilleries as well as smugglers. The producer describes the area as a centre of illicit production and smuggling in the 1700s and early 1800s, but also names three earlier legal distilleries: Blackmiddens, also called “The Buck”, Tomnaven and Mains of Lesmurdie. Blackmiddens operated from 1825 to 1833, giving the new project a specific recorded predecessor for its historical references.[1]

How Blackmiddens distilled is less certain. The producer says it is “understood to” have double distilled using a single pot still, and the fact sheet classifies this account as Legend. It explains the inspiration attributed to the Buck Still, rather than establishing Blackmiddens’ working methods.[1]

August 2024 was reported as the intended date for first distillation. It was a planned date, not a verified first-spirit date, and is distinct from the producer’s stated establishment year.[8][9]

What The Feering is, and is not

The Feering is a series of three Speyside blended malts associated with The Cabrach, not the new distillery’s own single malt. The bottlings are Early Harvest, Late Crop and Deep Earth. “The Feering” refers to the first furrow ploughed, which guides those that follow.[2][8]

Early Harvest was made from casks donated by four local Speyside distilleries and was limited to 6,000 bottles. The donors’ names are not established in the supplied record. Late Crop and Deep Earth are described as bottlings available only to Collective members.[2][8]

The agricultural name connects the series to the farm setting, but the distinction matters: these are associated blended malts, not a guide to the flavour of spirit distilled at Inverharroch. The name does not change where their component whiskies originated.[2][8]

Common misunderstandings

“The Cabrach never had legal distilleries.” Its licensed history sits alongside its smuggling history, not in opposition to it. Blackmiddens, Tomnaven and Mains of Lesmurdie belong in both the area’s history and the account of its whisky heritage.[1]

“This is simply a privately owned distillery.” The producer describes a Community Interest Company established by The Cabrach Trust, with its stated future-profit commitment to regeneration at its core.[1]

“Speyside is an uncontested description here.” The Feering is presented as Speyside blended malt; another account places the distillery on the Highland and Speyside border. Neither settles the distillery’s legal regional classification.[2][8]

Where to go next

• The Glenlivet: explore another distillery covered by this hub.
• Glenfiddich: read another individual distillery profile.
• Mortlach: continue through the surrounding whisky area.

Sources

[1] The Cabrach Distillery. Distillery. Undated producer’s account, checked November 2026. https://www.thecabrach.com/pages/our-distillery

[2] Inside the Cask. The Cabrach Distillery to launch in the heartland of malt whisky. 23 April 2024. https://insidethecask.com/2024/04/23/the-cabrach-distillery-to-launch-in-heartland-of-malt-whisky/

[3] The Cabrach Trust. The Cabrach Distillery and Heritage Centre. Undated project account, checked November 2026. https://cabrachtrust.org/cabrach_projects/historic-distillery-heritage-centre/

[8] The Whisky Shop. The Feering Early Harvest 70cl. Undated trade listing, checked November 2026. https://www.whiskyshop.com/the-feering-early-harvest

[9] Scottish Outposts. The Cabrach Distillery: A Community Revives an Old Smuggling Land. Undated trade account, checked November 2026. https://scottishoutposts.co.uk/cabrach-distillery/

This desk-researched profile uses the supplied verified fact sheet, distinguishing producer accounts, documented project milestones and stories classified as legend.

Last checked: November 2026