Wolfburn – a Thurso Distillery Tour and Five Drams
A few hours.
The route
Wolfburn is a small independent distillery on the edge of Thurso, carrying on the name of a distillery founded in 1821.
It has no visitor centre, so the tour takes you right in among the stills and the casks, and lunch afterwards is at the Northern Sands Hotel in Dunnet, a short drive along the coast. It suits whisky lovers, with a miniature to take home for whoever is driving.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is House of the Northern Gate. Sleeps 18.
Book the Classic Tour on Wolfburn Distillery's website before you go, as every tour must be booked ahead: it runs Monday to Friday at 10am, noon and 2pm all year and Saturdays at 10am and noon from April to September, costs £19.50 a head at the time of writing (non-refundable), and takes no children under 6.
The day
Thurso
An hour and a half among the stills and casks with five whiskies to taste, then a short drive east along the coast for lunch.
About three hours
Wolfburn Distillery
Wolfburn Distillery is on Henderson Park, on the western edge of Thurso. Book the Classic Tour on its website before you go: it runs Monday to Friday at 10am, noon and 2pm all year, and on Saturdays at 10am and noon from April to September. A guide takes you from the still house to the warehouses, and the hour and a half ends with a tasting of five whiskies. It costs £19.50 a head at the time of writing, non-refundable, with 16 and 17-year-olds at half price and children of 6 to 15 free; children under 6 can't come on the tour. Drivers get a 5ml miniature to take home instead of the tasting. There's no visitor centre, only a small shop under the stills, where you can fill your own bottle. The distillery is wheelchair friendly, toilets included, apart from a raised steel walkway on the tour.
24 min by car
Northern Sands Hotel
Lunch
Lunch is at the Northern Sands Hotel in Dunnet, about 24 minutes' drive east on the A836 through Castletown, just up the road from Dunnet Beach. It serves food all day, from fish in beer batter and steaks to a Scrabster seafood pie, and its kitchen was named Scottish Hotel Restaurant of the Year at the Food Awards Scotland in 2022. Afternoon tea is by booking only. If it's busy, from late May to the end of October the Grain Store at Stannergill Whisky in Castletown, on the way, serves lunch from 11.30am to 3pm.
If it rains
The tour and the lunch are both indoors.
Worth a detour
- Dunnet Beach
The Northern Sands stands just up the road from Dunnet Beach, the long sweep of sand round Dunnet Bay, so a walk along the shore after lunch is only a few minutes' drive away.
Olive, a café in Thurso.
The Galley, Scrabster, a restaurant in Scrabster.
Photographs by M. E., Sam Ryan and Northern Sands Hotel via Google