The Secret of Scapa

As with all single malts no one can analyse precisely why each whisky has its characteristics, such is the art of distilling. Aside from the undoubted importance of wood type in the maturation process, there are 3 other elements which influence Scapa.

The Location

Island or more correctly named Coastal whiskies all have a common trait. The maturation takes place by the sea. The old dunnage warehouses literally reek of the briny sea air. As the whisky sleeps (in the case of our ‘standard’ Scapa - 14 long years) it breathes ever so gently. Little by little the alcohol evaporates, being replaced by the fresh sea air. The result is something often described as a slight salty tang or a dry aftertaste on the palate. Whatever you personally detect, the result is an indefinable difference in character to those whiskies distilled inland.

The Malted Barley

Scapa is unique for an island whisky as its malted barley is entirely unpeated. Clearly the creators of Scapa were treading a very different path as peating barley is one of the strongest influences that can be given to an island whisky. This fact alone says much of what MacFarlane and Townsend were trying to create. Peating will overpower many of the subtler flavours in a malt whisky and it was these that the creators wanted to sing through - but where would they come from?

The Water!

The water is the secret of Scapa. We know how carefully this was selected by the complexity and considerable cost the founders went to. Orkney has literally thousands of burns (streams). Having decided on creating a ‘coastal’ single malt the distillery location had to be by the sea and like many distilleries it is sited on a burn - the Lingro burn. Indeed the distillery was originally powered by a giant water wheel (which still stands). But the water for the distillery is NOT drawn from the burn. To quote Alfred Barnard who had observed this oddity “The water supply is from the springs of the burn from which it is carried a great distance in large iron pipes”. The distance is over a kilometre!

Science only explains a certain amount of the distillers art, however we know that up here on the hilltops the rain water picks up all the scents of the wild heather, gorse and flowers. It then percolates through a layer of sandstone emerging through the layer of 'live' peat before being captured by our founders iron pipes. There is little doubt that this process imparts something unique to Scapa single malt.

Perhaps this is the real reason Macfarlane and Townsend took the decision not to 'peat' the barley, to avoid overpowering the delicate flavours which together create Scapa. Truly the work of craftsman