Lerwick Distillery is Shetland’s first legal whisky distillery, incorporated in July 2022 by lifelong friends and fellow Shetlanders Martin Watt and Calum Miller, and opened to the public in 2025 on Market Street in Lerwick, a location now nicknamed “Whisky Lane.” The pair had reportedly been talking about bringing whisky-making home to Shetland for over a decade before finally breaking ground. Production is overseen by Master Distiller Ian Millar, a 50-year industry veteran who trained at Balvenie and Glenfiddich.
The distillery draws its water from Shetland’s Palaeozoic metamorphic rock springs, a mineral profile the team markets as unique to the archipelago’s geology, and leans into the island’s oceanic sub-Arctic climate as a maturation asset. Sitting within the Island whisky region, Lerwick adds a genuinely new outpost to a region already known for pushing Scotch production into remote and unusual terrain.
As with any new-build distillery, Shetland’s first single malt needs time: Scots law requires three years and a day of cask maturation before a spirit can legally be called whisky. In the meantime, Lerwick has bridged the gap with Haad Still, a new-make spirit named for the Shetland dialect phrase meaning “hold still” or “hang in there”, alongside a growing range of sourced blended whiskies sold under the Nørn name while the distillery’s own spirit comes of age.
The project has been backed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, including a £250,000 grant toward production equipment, and won Scottish Enterprise’s Emerging Whisky Brand Award in 2025. The site includes a shop and tasting room, with tours available for visitors.
Lerwick Distillery Whiskies
Since Lerwick’s own single malt is still maturing, the current range is entirely sourced/blended releases sold under two labels while the house style comes of age:
- Haad Still — new-make spirit (pre-whisky)
- NØRN Atlantic — blended Scotch
- NØRN Aurora — blended malt, American oak + Caribbean rum finish, 8yo
- NØRN Zetland — blended malt Scotch (sold out at time of writing)
- NØRN Genesis 2026 Release — blended malt Scotch
- Smoorikin Batch 2 — blended malt, American oak, 14yo
Distillery info:
Detail |
Information |
|---|---|
| Name | Lerwick Distillery |
| Region | Island |
| Logo |  |
| Status | Active |
| Founded | 2022 |
| Water source | Springs of Valhalla (local springs) |
| Owned by | Lerwick Distillery Limited |
| Address |
Lerwick Distillery, |
| Visitor centre | Yes |
| Website | https://www.shetlandwhisky.com |
| N/A | |
| https://www.facebook.com/lerwickdistillery | |
| Community | Haad Still Fellowship |
| Map |
Distillery Setup:
Component |
Capacity |
Quantity |
|---|---|---|
| Mash tun | ? | ? |
| Washback | ? litres | ? |
| Wash still | 4,000 litres | 1 |
| Spirit Still | 4,000 litres | 1 |
| Expected yearly output in LPA (Litres of pure alcohol) | ? |