Harris distillery is called The Social Distillery for several reasons.
The businessman Anderson Bakewell had had connections with the island of Harris for some years before he decided to set up a project that would help support the falling population by providing employment; he also wanted to somehow ‘bottle the island’. And the means he chose was to set up the Isle of Harris Distillers Ltd, whose aim was to enrich the island and to have the future benefit of Harris at its heart. The distillery opened in October 2015, and since the whisky industry is a long-term investment, with the whisky requiring years to mature, it was decided that gin would be made alongside it. The whisky is called The Hearach, the local name for a Harris dweller.
