​Slainte… it’s the long-awaited launch of The Hearach single malt

By Murray MacLeod
Published 20th May 2023, 10:08 BST
Rebecca Passmore, an employee at the distillery, shows that it's all hands on ahead of the big September launch.Rebecca Passmore, an employee at the distillery, shows that it's all hands on ahead of the big September launch.
Rebecca Passmore, an employee at the distillery, shows that it's all hands on ahead of the big September launch.
​It’s the announcement that many in the whisky world, and indeed in the islands, were awaiting… the formal launch of The Hearach, the new single malt from the Isle of Harris Distillery in Tarbert.

A full eight years in the preparation, “the first dram” of the islands new whisky will be launched at a special celebration in the local community centre on Friday 22nd September., with the whisky being simulataneously made availavle in the village bars that evening.

The single malt will go on sale from 10.00am on Saturday 23rd at the distillery shop and from the online store at www.harrisdistillery.com before being made available in specialist across the UK and globally in October.

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Named after the Gaelic for someone from Harris, The Hearach is said to have been “strongly influenced by its Outer Hebridean island home and will be a spirit of complexity and character”.

The bottle, designed by world-leading agency Stranger and Stranger, will not be revealed until September’s release .

Managing director Simon Erlanger says: ‘It’s been 15 years since Burr Bakewell formed the Isle of Harris Distillery Company.

"We’ve always said that the whisky would be ready when it’s ready, so it’s a big moment to finally announce a launch date, which will be the distillery’s 8th birthday.

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"Back then, we hosted the biggest ceilidh the island had seen- at this one we’ll have a historic dram to toast the island with!’

Executive Chairman and CFO Ron MacEachran added: “The Hearach’s launch, eight years after the distillery opened, is a wonderful tribute to the efforts and support of so many people: the designers and builders of the distillery, the countless people from the island community and beyond who have supported us in different ways over the years, our investors who supported a long term vision of regeneration predicated on the creation of a distinctive whisky and, above all, the wonderful team who have brought the distillery to life and, notwithstanding the many challenges, who have remained passionately focused on achieving product and service quality – now embodied in The Hearach single malt.”

The distillery has a workforce of 30, making it one of the biggest employers in Harris.