Last month R&B Distillers, owners of the award-winning Isle of Raasay Distillery, announced that they have been granted planning permission to start work on their proposed distillery in Campbeltown. The Machrihanish Distillery will be the region’s first farm-to-bottle distillery in over 180 years.

R&B Distillers first revealed their plans for a Campbeltown distillery a few years ago. The group purchased the Dhurrie Farm in 2021 and applied for planning permission to build their distillery a year later.

Construction is scheduled to being in 2025 and the hope is for production to start in 2026. There are also plans pencilled in to build a visitors centre, shop, and tasting room. However, these will come in the future as the press announcement suggests that they won’t open for at least three years when their own whisky is ready and available.

Sustainability will be at the heart of the new distillery. R&B Distillers have revealed their plans for the site to be a net-zero operation: no fossil fuels will be used during the production process; regenerative and environmentally friendly farming practices will be used in sourcing their ingredients; additionally, they hope to implement a scheme to improve local biodiversity.

While they promise to produce a totally distinct style of whisky compared to their sister distillery on Raasay, Machrihanish will clearly share their focus on “provenance, quality, and community regeneration.”

As for the whisky itself, the team have stated that they are aiming for a largely unpeated whisky that will be distinctly Campbeltown in character. Machrihanish will also initially mature their spirit exclusively in sherry casks.

Those wanting to keep up to date with development from The Machrihanish Distillery can sign up to their newsletter or follow their social media pages (for those on Instagram you’ll get to see their account’s first post: a picture of their planning permission letter).

Machrihanish isn’t R&B Distillers’ first attempt to build a distillery on the mainland. When the company first founded there was also plans to build a distillery in the borders (‘R&B’ comes from ‘Raasay and Borders’). Peebles seemed to be the preferred destination, however these plans seem to have been shelved indefinitely following The Borders Distillery opening in 2018.

The news about Machrihanish came soon after it was also announced that R&B Distillers had acquired a majority stake in CaskShare, and eCommerce platform and independent bottler that enables producers to sell their single cask whiskies directly to consumers.

Speaking on both the acquisition and of the distillery plans, R&B Distillers managing director William Dobbie said that the move puts the group on track on a “clear track towards achieving our vision of becoming the leading new wave spirits business in Scotland.”

Whiskies from Campbeltown are among the most revered single malts in the world, so it’s no surprise that R&B Distillers want a piece of the action. However, they are certainly not the only group to do so.

Dál Riata was founded by the team behind South Star Spirits and they too have recently been granted planning permission to build their distillery. The distillery will be place in Campbeltown itself and the group aim to produce a style of whisky consistent with their neighbours.

Bottler and blender Brave New Spirits also have plans for a Campbeltown distillery. Like Machrihanish, their Witchburn Distillery is based just outside Campbeltown and will be a net-zero operation. Planning permission was granted in August 2023 and production is hoped to begin late 2024.

Campbeltown has a storied history in the whisky world and it will be fascinating to see where Machrihanish and others fit into that legacy. Unfortunately, with ground only just being broken at these new distilleries, there will be a long wait before we can sample their wares.

That said, there’s been nearly two centuries since the last new Campbeltown distillery was opened; I’m sure a few more years of patience won’t hurt.