Gaelic musician lodges plans for revival of 200-year-old Skye distillery

A Gaelic musician has lodged plans to rekindle memories of a historic whisky distillery last seen on Skye 200 years ago.

He, along with his master distiller, currently run 57°Skye, a craft spirit distillery which opened in Broadford in 2022.

Gaelic musician Séamus Ó Baoighill and master distiller Seumas Gorman now want to demolish their current distillery and visitor centre and replace it with a four-storey whisky hub.

They hope to put their own spin on distilling Skye whisky while taking inspiration from the village’s centuries old whisky story.

A public café and bar area will be split across two floors, giving visitors a view into the new distillery with pot stills as large as the current complex.

The upper floor will have a private tasting area and a performance space for events.

Each of these floors will have a terrace attached with views over to nearby the nearby summit of Beinn na Caillich.

The basement will have car parking with EV chargers and cycle spaces.

Designers cite taking inspiration from other modular architecture projects like Stauning Distillery in Denmark and Drygate Brewery in Glasgow.

Both Skye natives, it is company director Séamus Ó Baoighill and distiller Seumas Gorman’s latest expansion to their successful 57°Skye gin project.

Séamus Ó Baoighill first saw success as a Gaelic musician and was a finalist in the 2015 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year.

Some instruments in his repertoire include the fiddle, bagpipes, smallpipes and the banjo.

Seumas Gorman’s interest in distilling came from his years of work in hospitality, and together they have worked to bring this latest project to life.

The project lies near the Corry Lodge Estate, where a derelict coach house and lodge was the original proposed location for the distillery.

According to Gareth Roberts, a whisky consultant involved with the project, the Corry distillery was set up overlooking Broadford Bay in 1816 and distilled for ten years.

The Corry estate was brought together by Lachlan Mackinnon in 1790 and is steeped in Skye’s Gaelic clan history.

If the project is approved, this rich whisky and Mackinnon family history will be brought to life inside the distillery.

This forms part of a new visitor centre, which will help fund the preservation of the nearby old distilling site.

Also included in the plans is provision for staff accommodation in a separate building.

It would bring 12 one-bedroom apartments for distillery staff and other local businesses and continues the modular and modernist design.

The applicants say the housing will “contribute to the immediate shortfall of staff and workers accommodation that is needed for businesses to function in the area.”

They add that while it won’t address the lack of available housing long-term, their proposal “will not create additional pressure on the existing housing stock.”

The application now lies with Highland Council and can be viewed here.