Ben Cumhaill Distillery — Lowland Single Malt Whisky

Ben Cumhaill Distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery located near Dumfries, on the A76 between Thornhill and Dumfries, in the Lowland region of Scotland. It was founded in 2025 and is currently owned and independently run by husband-and-wife team Jeff and Jess Simpson. Housed in a converted building on the A76 that is thought to partly date back to the 1700s, it is one of Scotland's newest and smallest distilleries, deliberately blending Scottish and Irish distilling traditions in its production.

History

Ben Cumhaill Distillery grew out of a shared passion project between Jeff, who is Scottish, and Jess, who is Irish, sparked during the Covid-19 pandemic after the couple experimented with a small home still. They sold their house in the Cairngorms to help fund the venture and, working largely by hand and without outside investors, converted a building on the A76 between Thornhill and Dumfries — previously used as a post office and a restaurant, with parts believed to date to the 1700s — into a working distillery. The project was first announced around 2022, and construction and equipment installation continued over the following years, including the commissioning of an LPG-fired steam generator, a 1,000-litre spirit still built by Macmillan/Briggs coppersmiths of Prestonpans, a Portuguese-made Hoga wash still (added to meet the Scotch Whisky Association's minimum two-still requirement), a one-tonne mash tun, and a wooden washback fed by a 99-metre borehole. After water test runs through the first half of 2025, the distillery produced its first spirit around August/September 2025. The name Ben Cumhaill (pronounced "Ben Cool") combines Benandonner, the Scottish giant of legend, with Fionn mac Cumhaill, the Irish giant, both said to have built the Giant's Causeway — a story the founders chose to reflect their own mixed Scottish-Irish heritage.

Quick Facts

• Region: Lowland
• Founded: 2025
• Owner: Jeff and Jess Simpson (independent, family-owned)
• Status: Active
• Stills: Two — a 1,000-litre spirit still (Macmillan/Briggs) and a wash still (Hoga, Portugal)

Core Range

Ben Cumhaill has not yet released any aged single malt: production of new-make spirit only began in 2025, and the founders have said they do not intend to bottle anything under eight years old, so a core range is not expected until at least the early 2030s. The site currently has an informal visitor and meeting space, with a dedicated visitor centre planned for around 2027.