Borders Distillery

Distilleries, Scotland, Spirit Reviews, Whiskey, Whisky

Travel Distilled takes a look at the Borders Distillery, the first Scotch whisky distillery in the Scottish Borders since 1837.

I’ve always loved the Scottish Borders and have had several visits there, staying in Melrose and Peebles. Now there’s another reason to return – the new Borders Distillery, which is surprisingly the first Scotch whisky distillery to open in the Borders region since 1837.

Where Is the Borders Distillery?

The distillery is in Hawick, not far from Jedburgh and Selkirk. The town is well-known for its history of textiles and there’s a museum devoted to the topic, as well as the Hawick Museum that showcases local art and history. Hawick was also the birthplace of Tweed and is a major part of the Scottish Textile Trail.

Hawick and Rugby

If you’re a rugby fan like me you’ll be interested to know that Hawick has produced way more than its fair share of talented rugby players, including Stuart Hogg, Rory Sutherland, and Darcy Graham, not to mention the rugby commentator and journalist, the great Bill McLaren.

Borders Distillery

The distillery is very much focussed on the Borders region, and works exclusively with twelve local farms, none of them further than 35 miles from the distillery. Their malted barley is entirely grown by farmers in the Borders, and everything is distilled on site. It’s good to see that their Visitor Centre Shop also stocks local products, not just the distillery’s own spirits.

Borders Distillery Spirits

The distillery boasts that its spirits are ‘Made in Hawick’, and these include Kerr’s Gin, Puffing Billy Vodka, and their Workshop Series Whisky Blends.

Puffing Billy Steam Vodka

The distillery’s first vodka is also made from malted barley, and Puffing Billy is the name they gave their Carterhead Still. And you know how some distilleries boast that their vodka is filtered five/seven/a hundred times, to try to indicate its purity? Well Puffing Billy Vodka is not filtered at all. Instead it’s steamed through charcoal inside the still itself.

I tried a sample and can say that it’s a really interesting vodka. It’s certainly not neutral, as vodka is supposed to be. On the nose there’s a honey and even a whisky aroma. It’s savoury rather than sweet or spicy, but those elements are in there too. I could (and did) certainly enjoy sniffing on this for a while before sipping it.

It’s the same on the palate. It’s a mix of tastes, and it tastes stronger than it actually is (40% ABV/80 proof). I think that steaming process works very well indeed. There are subtle flavours of all kinds of things. It’s creamy and smooth, and if you’re of the opinion that all vodka tastes the same, this would prove you wrong… very wrong. The people at the Borders Distillery are obviously working some magic up there in Hawick.

Kerr’s Gin

We know who (or what) Puffing Billy is, but who is Kerr? William Kerr was another of the famous sons of Hawick, born in 1779 and destined to become a leading botanist. The botanicals in the gin are also steamed in the still over vapours from the malted barley spirit, rather than being boiled, giving them a much more subtle presence in the finished gin.

Borders Whiskies

The Borders Distillery has been quite creative with its whiskies, which is good, not opting to produce a single bog-standard ‘Borders Whisky’. They’ve produced a Clan Fraser Reserve Whisky, a blend of Single Malt and grain whiskies. There’s also a Lower East Side Whisky, designed for cocktails, especially a Manhattan.

Borders Malt and Rye

In 2019 they distilled some rye spirit and matured it in the same bourbon casks used for their malt whiskies. The result is bottled without filtration and is the first blended Scotch whisky to come out of the Scottish Borders for 185 years.

Bottled at 40% ABV (80 proof), this is a really enjoyable blend, if you like your whiskies to have contrasting flavours. It has spices from the rye, a bit of corn-like sweetness, a dash of vanilla from the bourbon casks, and some earthy oak also from the casks. All in all this is a delicious sipping whisky, a spirit for all occasions.

New Make Spirit

The distillery is being bold and selling the basic spirit from which its own Single Malt is going to be produced, when it’s ready. Bottled at a fierce 63.5% ABV (127 proof), it would give your whisky cocktails a big alcoholic punch.

It would also be interesting to buy a bottle and save some for when that Single Malt is available, to see what maturation and watering down will do to a spirit. Being bold and sipping some neat, I can say that it is definitely fiery and peppery, but also balanced by some unusual sweet and sour notes, and some fruity apples and pears freshness.

Private Whisky Casks

The distillery has also produced 1,837 casks available for private purchase at £2,400 each. This is a long-term investment as it’s recommended you leave your cask maturing for at least ten years, but then you’ll have something really special for a special occasion.

Sustainable Spirits

The distillery is also working to make sure it’s as eco-friendly and sustainable as possible. For example, every by-product from the distillation that can be used, is used, going to local farms to help grow crops… including that all-important barley!

The water for distillation comes from an underground lake beneath the distillery, and it takes 50-70 years to filter down through the hills and the rocks before it reaches the lake. Even if it never rained again (in Scotland?), there’s enough water in the lake to keep the distillery going for a thousand years.

Even the distillery building is recycled. Built in the 19th century it used to be home to an electricity board, then was a sweet factory making something called Hawick Balls (I’m not even going to ask), and finally an engineering firm before the distillery founders discovered it sitting empty in 2014.

Paperless Bottles

Scottish Borders Distillery Hawick Kerr's Navy Strength Gin bottle 2 — Gin in a Paperless Bottle

The company’s commitment to caring for the environment is shown by the fact that the bottles for their Kerr’s Navy Strength Gin carry no paper labels, and you’re encouraged to use them again yourself as flower vases or water decanters.