Isle of Harris Distillers

Anderson “Burr” Bakewell first visited the Isle of Harris, located in the Outer Hebrides off the northwest coast of Scotland, in the late 1960s. A teenager at the time, Anderson had received an invitation from his friend Andrew Miller Mundy to visit and explore the island. He jumped at the chance to escape the daily humdrum of life on the mainland. It was a visit that would not only open his eyes to the natural, rugged beauty of the island but open his ears to the Gaelic dialect and the local traditional music. Anderson made his way around the island, taking in every sight, smell and sound. He also visited the island of Scarp, which had a lasting and profound impact on the young teenager. Anderson spent his evenings with Andrew’s family, friends and neighbours. These evenings were enjoyed sitting around an open peat burning fire, listening intently to stories of local folklore or enjoying an impromptu concert of traditional music featuring the bodhran, fiddle, accordion and folksong.

Over the next five decades, Anderson made regular trips to the Isle of Harris, learning something new every time he visited. He also became a pioneer and academic in traditional and cultural music. He travelled the world recording live performances and documenting the music and cultural ties. Anderson’s work to preserve and promote this mix of music and culture provided the academic world with many resources for further study. It highlighted how crucial cultural preservation was for small communities.

Anderson became a well-known face on the Isle of Harris. He understood the challenges the small island community and economy faced, including depopulation. This fear that the island, the traditions and the people he loved could one day be lost set Anderon on the path to establishing a distillery in Tarbert, the main town and ferry port on the island. Anderson saw the creation of a distillery as a chance to breathe new life into the island with the creation of new skilled jobs, a visitor destination, and the opportunity to showcase the island’s heritage and natural beauty through the production of whisky, Scottish Gin and spirits. Anderson wanted to create a ‘social distillery’ that supported the local community, so in 2007 incorporated Isle of Harris Distillers. He then spent the next seven years bringing together investors, drawing up plans and building a management team that Simon Erlanger would lead, who had a background in whisky, including his previous role as marketing and sales director with Glenmorangie, before joining the Isle of Harris Distillers as managing director in 2011.

Construction of the distillery began in 2014 on the harbour front of Tarbet and was completed a year later. With the completion of the distillery, Simon, and Anderson alongside their team set to work on the development of the Isle of Harris Gin with the help of Dr Jim Swan, a well respected master distiller and consultant in the spirits industry, who together crafted a Scottish Gin that captured elements of the island in not only the aromas and flavours but also how the Isle of Harris Gin looked. With its now iconic bespoke aqua blue bottle, a label that features flecks of sugar kelp, a key botanical in the Isle of Harris Gin, plus the hidden message on the bottom of the bottle, “Esse Quam Videri” and translates as “To be, rather than to seem”. The Isle of Harris Gin quickly set the bar high for the global gin category.

The Isle of Harris Distillery officially opened its doors on the 24th of September 2015 with a team of ten staff who became known as the ‘Tarbet Ten’. The distillery opening included a Ceilidh, which is still talked about, where the local community gathered to dance, sing, chat, drink and laugh until the wee hours. The Isle of Harris Gin launched shortly after the distillery opened and quickly gained high praise from consumers and industry.

Since opening its doors in 2015, the distillery and management team have continued to invest in the local community through different initiatives and community-led projects. The distillery has also gone from the original ‘Tarbert Ten’ to employing over fifty permanent staff members, providing training and bringing new skills to the island. The visitor experiences at the distillery have attracted guests from around the world who have enjoyed tasting events, tours, experiences and Hebridean hospitality.

In 2023, the distillery marked another milestone with the launch of its first single malt whisky, The Hearach, which is the Gaelic word for ‘the people of Harris’, serving as another example of how the distillery blends the island’s culture, landscape and community into the spirits it produces. Anderson’s values continue to inspire and direct the distillery team, and his ambitions are at the heart of everything the distillery has achieved up until now and will continue to do for many, many more generations to come.