InchDairnie Distillery — Lowland Single Malt Whisky

InchDairnie Distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery located near Leslie in Fife, Lowland, Scotland. It was founded in 2015 by industry veteran Ian Palmer and is currently owned by John Fergus & Co, the holding company he established for the project. Unlike most modern distilleries, InchDairnie was built from the ground up around bespoke, flavour-focused equipment rather than off-the-shelf stills, and it produces both single malt and rye whisky on the same site.

History

InchDairnie's parent company, John Fergus & Co, was set up in 2011, and planning permission for the distillery was granted in January 2013. It was built on land near Leslie, Fife, close to the site of the historic Prinlaws Mill, once run by a milling firm also called John Fergus & Co — a name the modern distillery deliberately echoes. Construction began in July 2014, and the first spirit ran from the stills in December 2015, with an official launch following in May 2016.

Founder Ian Palmer, a former managing director at International Beverage with decades of industry experience, designed InchDairnie around a philosophy of maximising flavour through raw materials rather than through the stills alone: winter and spring barley varieties grown in Fife are used alongside four bespoke, season-specific yeast strains. In 2017 the distillery began producing rye whisky using a traditional Scottish pot still and new American oak casks, a rarity for Scotland. Between 2017 and 2019 InchDairnie added eight further maturation warehouses and a dedicated blending facility, and in 2024 it doubled its production capacity to around four million litres a year and moved to 100% green hydrogen energy. The distillery released its rye whisky, RyeLaw, in April 2023, followed by its first single malts — including the peated KinGlassie expression — in May 2025. A flagship eponymous InchDairnie single malt is planned for release once sufficiently mature stock is available, expected around 2029.

Quick Facts

• Region: Lowland
• Founded: 2015
• Owner: John Fergus & Co
• Status: Active
• Stills: 2 wash stills and 2 spirit stills (expanded in 2024 to increase capacity)

Core Range

InchDairnie's core range centres on two main lines. RyeLaw is a Scottish rye whisky, distilled in a traditional pot still and matured in new American oak casks, bottled at 46.3% ABV, non-chill-filtered and naturally coloured. KinGlassie is InchDairnie's peated single malt, released as an 8-Year-Old at 46.3% ABV (non-chill-filtered), available in Double Matured and Raw expressions. A future release, PrinLaws, will showcase experimental grain whiskies including wheat and sour-mash styles, and the distillery's own eponymous single malt, InchDairnie, is planned as a longer-aged seasonal vintage expression.