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Whisky
in Dumfries and Galloway.

It’s 23:00 in Dumfries and Galloway.
Dumfries and Galloway

Spirits of the south-west.

Dumfries and Galloway makes its own spirits again. Near Annan, a distillery founded in 1830 was silent for most of a century and now makes whisky once more. In a farm steading near Lockerbie, rum is made from molasses, and at Newton Stewart gin is distilled with fir from the hills and seaweed from the shore. Tours and tastings run at all three. Choose a driver.

Annandale Distillery→
Ninefold Distillery→
Galloway Distillery→
Distillery of the day21 hours ago

Galloway Distillery.

Gin made from scratch at Newton Stewart, with fir from the hills and weed from the shore.

Read about it
From the magazine19 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 13Issue 13Autumn / Winter 2026-27

Sam Heughan, the Outlander actor who has launched Galloway Distillery in Dumfries and Galloway, wants Galloway to be a whisky region of its own.

Galloway's whisky counts as Lowland, a region Sam calls 'so generic', because it covers a huge area. He points to Campbeltown and Islay, small areas whose whiskies each have a character of their own, and says 'I think Galloway and the West of Scotland need their own region'. To him, Galloway's own character is 'like a big, warm hug', lively and distinct. His distillery has taken over the old Crafty distillery and kept all its staff on. Now it is digging into that very question: 'What is Galloway in a glass?' The whisky is being made now, though the first single malt is still some way off.

See Galloway Distillery · Dumfries and Galloway
Lunch17 hours agoDumfries and GallowayThe Globe Inn, Dumfries8.6 milesDumfries and GallowayKings Coffee and Books8.7 milesDumfries and GallowayFlourish8.7 miles

Lunch near Ninefold Distillery.

The three good places closest to it: The Globe Inn, Dumfries, Kings Coffee and Books and Flourish.

See Ninefold Distillery
Did you know16 hours ago

When Johnnie Walker's firm bought Annandale distillery near Annan in 1893, it put up the tall chimney that still stands over the distillery today.

The Walkers wanted Annandale's peated whisky for their blends, and they built the place up. Besides the chimney, they added a kiln under a pagoda roof by Charles Doig, the Elgin architect whose ventilators crown distilleries across Scotland, and made the warehouse bigger. After the First World War the stills fell silent, and when Annandale made spirit again in 2014, the Walkers' chimney was still standing over its pink sandstone buildings.

See Annandale Distillery · Dumfries and Galloway
Quiz14 hours ago

Annandale distillery names its peated whisky, Man O' Sword, after a Lord of Annandale who became King of Scots. Who?

Did you know11 hours ago

The café at Annandale distillery, near Annan, serves food made by the chefs of the Globe Inn in Dumfries, Robert Burns's favourite pub.

The Maltings Coffee Shop sits on the distillery's old malting floor, with cakes, sandwiches and a Scottish afternoon tea. Its food comes from the kitchen of the Globe Inn, first opened in 1610 and known as Burns's favourite howff, the Scots word for a haunt. At the Globe you can still sit in the poet's chair and read the verse he scratched on a window pane.

See Annandale Distillery · Dumfries and Galloway
From our guide9 hours ago

Annandale Distillery.

When Annandale Distillery opened in 1836, Annan was an embarkation port for emigrant Scots. It closed in 1918 and didn’t open its doors again for some 100 years. In 2014, following a £10.5 million renovation, it once more started producing single malt Scotch whisky. It runs guided tours and on its former malting floor there’s a café serving Scottish food and local craft beers.

See the place
From the magazine7 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 13Issue 13Autumn / Winter 2026-27

Sam Heughan, the star of Outlander, grew up in rural Galloway, where most of his family's friends were musicians and craftspeople.

Sam grew up in a very rural part of Dumfries and Galloway, where the ruin of Kenmure Castle, in the grounds the family lived on, was his playground and Loch Ken beside it was for fishing, paddling and swimming. Friends were spread across little communities, but they were close. 'Most of our friends were musicians or craftspeople, like potters, hatmakers or shoemakers. So, there was always this community,' he remembers, and everyone's door was always left open. Now he has come home to launch Galloway Distillery, taking on the old Crafty distillery and keeping all its staff, and its first whisky is called The Spirit of Home.

Read the full story in Issue 13
True or false6 hours ago

True or false: Annandale distillery spent longer lying silent than it ever spent making whisky.

Did you know4 hours ago

Annandale Distillery, near Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, was a farm for most of the twentieth century.

It was built in 1830 and made whisky until it fell silent after the First World War. Its buildings were then given over to farming, until whisky was made here again.

See Annandale Distillery · Dumfries and Galloway
Did you know1 hour ago

On 9 November 2014 Annandale distillery, near Annan, made whisky spirit again after about ninety years of silence.

Annandale was built in the 1830s and made peaty whisky for Johnnie Walker's blends until it went quiet after the First World War. Professor David Thomson and Teresa Church bought the empty site in 2007 and restored its old buildings, and on 9 November 2014 the spirit ran again. The first casks filled that winter carry the year 2014 on their ends.

See Annandale Distillery · Dumfries and Galloway

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