Hawick’s Borders Distillery holds a genuinely rare title in Scotch whisky: the first legal distillery to operate in the Scottish Borders since 1837. Founded by four industry veterans, Tim Carton, John Fordyce, Tony Roberts and George Tait, under The Three Stills Company, the project began life in 2013 and took shape inside a converted Victorian electrical works overlooking the River Teviot. Spirit first flowed on 6 March 2018, ending a gap of 181 years, and the distillery opened to the public on 1 May 2018.
The site itself is part of the story. Two large 1880s sheds, previously the Hawick Electric Company and later an engineering works, were joined by a modern glass extension and restored with exposed rubble walls and original roof trusses left visible. Water is drawn from a natural aquifer seventeen metres below the building, with cooling water taken from the neighbouring Teviot, and the barley itself is grown within 35 miles of the distillery through the Borders Growers & Distillers group, a partnership with ten local farms and Simpsons Malt.
True to its Lowland roots, Borders is built to produce a light, fragrant, floral new-make: long fermentation and a cloudy wort for fruitiness, distilled through large lampglass wash stills and boil-ball spirit stills for plenty of copper contact. A specially commissioned Carter Head still from Forsyths of Rothes runs alongside the whisky stills, used for the distillery’s William Kerr’s Gin and Puffing Billy Steam Vodka.
As of 2026, Borders still hasn’t released its own single malt. Whisky needs a minimum of three years in oak before it can legally be called Scotch, and the distillery has chosen to wait rather than rush a young dram to market, in the meantime building out an experimental Workshop Series and two blended labels sourced from other distilleries. Its 2024 new-make spirit won Gold at Whisky Magazine’s World Whiskies Awards, and in 2022 its WS:01 Borders Malt & Rye became the first blended Scotch to leave the Scottish Borders region in 185 years. Cask ownership is also on offer through the distillery’s 1837 Private Casks programme, letting buyers watch their own Borders malt mature toward that eventual single malt release.
Borders Whiskies
No single malt has been released yet, core range currently runs entirely on sourced blends and an experimental in-house series:
| Name | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lower East Side | Blended malt Scotch whisky | Single malts from across Scotland, matured in American oak. Vanilla, almond, honey, light smoke. Marketed for cocktails, especially a Manhattan. ABV unconfirmed. |
| Clan Fraser Reserve | Blended Scotch whisky | Blend of single malt and grain whisky. Honey, butter, raisin, fig, spice. ABV unconfirmed. |
| WS:01 Borders Malt & Rye | Workshop Series (blended Scotch) | Rye grain spirit distilled in-house in 2019, matured alongside Borders malt in fresh-fill bourbon casks. 40% ABV. First blend to leave the Scottish Borders region in 185 years, released 2022. |
| WS:00 New Make Spirit | Workshop Series (new make) | Unaged spirit straight from the still, bottled as-is. Won Gold at Whisky Magazine’s World Whiskies Awards 2024. |
Distillery info:
Detail |
Information |
|---|---|
| Name | Borders Distillery |
| Region | Lowland |
| Logo |  |
| Status | active |
| Founded | 2013 |
| Water source | Local aquifer |
| Owned by | The Three Stills Company |
| Address |
16-20 Commercial Road, |
| Visitor centre | Yes - tours run daily, brand home and shop on Commercial Road |
| Website | https://thebordersdistillery.com |
| N/A | |
| https://www.facebook.com/thebordersdistillery | |
| Community | N/A |
| Map |
Distillery Setup:
Component |
Capacity |
Quantity |
|---|---|---|
| Mash tun | 5 tonnes | Semi-lauter |
| Washback | 25,000 litres | 8 (Stainless steel) |
| Wash still | 12,500 litres | 2 (Lampglass shape, shell and tube condensers) |
| Spirit Still | 7500 litres | 2 (Boil ball shape, shell and tube condensers) |
| Expected yearly output in LPA (Litres of pure alcohol) | 2,000,000 |