The Hearach Isle of Harris 46% Single Malt Scotch Whisky 70cl Batch 15

26th July 2024: We have stock of Batch 15.

The first legal single malt ever produced on the Isle of Harris. 'Hearach’ is the Scots Gaelic name for a native of the Isle of Harris. The final whisky, created by the hands of Harris people and influenced by the island's elements, is a spirit of great character and complexity.

The Hearach is bottled at 46% abv, non-chill filtered, and free from artificial colouring. Their recipe uses spirit matured in ex-bourbon casks, oloroso and fino butts.

The Hearach Batch Nos.:

Following on from the successful inaugural launch of The Hearach in 2023, the first release consisted of 8 batches, and the second features batches 9-12, which will have an official UK launch date of Tuesday 26th of March 2024.

Geraldo's initial allocation from the second release was from Batches 10 and 11. In July 2024, we received a further allocation from Batch 12.

Harris Distillery have now launched batches 13 to 16, and batches 17 to 19 will follow in the Autumn.

Future stock will be from different batches, but please note this is out of our control. We will update this product listing to reflect any changes.

See below for more information on the batches.

Natural colour and non-chill filtered.

70cl

46% ABV

Net weight: 1.7kg

Tasting Notes

Nose: Toasted marshmallows on a pebbled Fascadale beach, minerals, orange oil and popcorn.

Palate: Salted popcorn, smores, pebble beach, mineralic, sea salt, briney, lime cordial, charred marshmallows, bitter orange, dark chocolate, smoky Old Fashioned cocktail.

The Hearach Batches

How many batches are in the first release?

There will be 8 Batches. Find out more here about the natural variations with each batch.

How many bottles are in each batch?

There will be around 13,000 bottles per batch.

Will each batch taste the same?

There will be consistency across releases but the potential for some natural variation between each. We are a small distillery with a limited number of casks to choose from. We hope that everyone will recognise the signature flavour of The Hearach but will find something different in every batch. In true ‘enemies of average' style, whilst most of the distilleries aim for consistency, we would like to celebrate the small differences.

Isle of Harris Distillery

"We couldn’t have done this without the support of Harris and the people of the whole island. The distillery can be a showcase for Harris around the world. It is a ground of hope here on the shores of East Loch Tarbert." - Anderson 'Burr' Bakewell, Founder of the Isle of Harris Distillery

The Isle of Harris Distillery began with a simple idea.

The inspiration came from Anderson 'Burr' Bakewell, who has felt bound to the Isle of Harris through a long connection with nearby Scarp, and many decades of life spent among the landscapes and people of Harris. He believed that this island's rare and elusive spirit could be captured in a bottle and shared with the world.

Over the decades, Burr, like many others, noted with sadness the long-term decline in the island's population, with the community's numbers having halved over the last fifty years. As young people left Harris' shores to seek their fortune, few were able to return to find work, set down roots and build a life in the place they called home. He believed that a distillery, built for not just years but for generations, could be a way to help stem this tide.

So, Burr gathered a group of like-minded individuals around him and set out on a seven-year journey to bring his ambitions to reality. September 24th 2015, saw his simple idea finally come to fruition as the doors to the Isle of Harris Distillery opened for the first time.

That day, the community gathered to light an inaugural fire in our distillery hearth. Three generations of Hearaich, the Gaelic word for the people of Harris, each placed a fàd, or block, of peat on the blaze to mark the occasion. They then threw the largest ceilidh the island had ever seen, with hundreds of islanders filling the cask warehouse for a night of music, dancing and song as the first of the island spirit flowed.

The distillery started life with just 10 people and an ambition to double this number over the next five years. Today, they're proud to say employ almost 40 permanent staff, a highly significant number on an island of fewer than 2,000 inhabitants.

In these early days of their history, it is clear that Burr's vision is already making a real difference on the Isle of Harris. As a catalyst for positive change within the community, the distillery team continue to work with purpose, bringing new life to the island and supporting its aspirations to survive and thrive, moving forward to meet the challenges of the 21st century.