Harris | Whisky Lady

I absolutely love the Mainstage sessions at London’s Whisky Show. Our third and last session from 2025 focused on Islands. Most would know that Scotland has four official regions: Highlands, Islay, Lowlands, and Speyside. Unofficially, Scotland also has an “Islands” region with Isle of Arran (Lagg, Lochranza), Orkney (Highland Park, Scapa), Skye (Talisker), etc. Yet we also have several non-Scottish Islands that have got into the business of producing whisky like Hven in Sweden. There is something about an island character – a kind of independence that comes from relying on the people within your Island home. And that is what this Mainstage session was all about!

Photo Left to Right: Dave Broom, Shona Mcleod (Isle of Harris), Mick Swanney (Scapa), and Henric Molin (Hven)

Island Distilling

Across the globe, distilleries have sprung up on islands. Some of that was historically to provide a local supply, and some of it was to avoid the watch of the excise man. Modern Island Distilleries are still vital elements of their community but face very particular challenges. Dave Broom takes to the stage with Shona Macleod from Isle of Harris, Mick Swanney from Scapa and Henric Molin from Hven to talk about their island homes.

Now that you know who we heard from, what whiskies did we experience?

Isle of Harris with Hearach 6 year Decade Edition 46%
Orkney Island with Scapa 21 year (2025) 50.7%
Veen Island in Sweden (near Denmark) with Spirit of Hven “Hvenus” 8 year Rye Whisky 45.6%

Welcome to our wee exploration of a trio of islands and their drams!

We began on the Isle of Harris, a small island in the Scottish Outer Hebrides. Shona Maclead, Blender for Harris Distilery, shared insights into their journey. She explained their community-based approach. To keep the distillery functioning, the community stepped in, with most having never worked in a distillery before, bringing different backgrounds to this re-start-up!

For this expression, they use hand-cut Harris peat to ppm of 40 – 44, matured in a combination of Ex-oloroso Butts and Ex-Heaven Hill Bourbon Barrels, and was their first expression without the “experts” guiding.

This wasn’t my first time sampling a Hearach dram. Two years ago, a bottle made its way to my Nürnberg home in a special “bring your bottle” evening. So even before Shona mentioned peat, I knew to put out my “peat” Glencairn glass for a pour – a new Whisky Show habit to keep peat and non-peat drams in separate glasses.

What did we think?

Hearach 6 years Decade Edition 46%

Nose – Light peat, some salinity, almost like salty nuts, some heather, floral, and herbal with an anise twist
Palate – Gently, soft, creamy, then a bit punchy, whilst not at all sweet, there was a delicious curl of smoke
Finish – Lingering smoke

What do they say about this expression?

On the nose – Caramelised oranges and dried citrus peel are prominent. Then sweet nutty sugared almonds turning slowly to notes of dark brown sugar and a touch of liquorice toffee. There’s a burst of mixed florals, mellowing into gentler more herbaceous purple heather and lavender notes
On the palate – Harris peat smoke complements the flavours of spiced ginger cake and bonfire toasted marshmallows on the palate. The finish is creamy and long.

Their tasting notes ring true with our experience, and I look forward to future opportunities to explore Harris whiskies.

Next, we shifted to Orkney Island with Master Distiller Mick Swanney from Scapa. When one thinks of Orkney, Highland Park tends to come to mind. Mick shared that Highland Park and Scapa share workers, though naturally with quite different styles and approaches. On an island, if something breaks, it’s not like an engineer can easily pop over, so it builds a kind of self-reliance and partnership with your neighbour.

Mick spoke of their use of heritage barley, grown on Orkney Island, their “neolithic” washtray, and manual processes. What we sometimes forget is that Scapa was mothballed from 1994 to 2004, and was reopened by Pernod Ricard. Mick shared the challenges with rebuilding inventory, aiming for traditional malt enthusiasts. Hence, he was particularly proud to share their Scapa 21-year – commemorating their revival.

Scapa 21 year (2025) 50.7%

Nose – Bright tropical aromas, banana cream pie, then salty caramel – quite joyful
Palate – More of that caramel with a gentle spice, soft and easy on the palate
Finish – Not long but quite enjoyable

The best way to describe this expression is that it is “wonderfully drinkable”. Unlike some 21 year olds, strutting their “mature stuff”, making you work at discerning the different elements, this was simply an enjoyable dram. No fuss, no muss, just kick back and relax.

Here is what the folks have to say about their Scapa 21-year-old – potentially a different release as the latest tasting notes are for 48% whereas ours was 50.7%.

Nose – Notes of homemade apricot jam with fresh raspberries drizzled over ripe bananas and whipped cream. Hints of aromatic oak and subtle nutmeg conclude.
Palatte – Notes of fresh peaches and mangoes wrapped in vanilla cream and condensed milk, with notes of shortbread spiced with cardamom and cinnamon.
Finish – Sweet and syrupy

In some ways, I wish we had started with the Scapa, as it was a perfect “ease into your evening” kind of whisky.

We closed our Islands exploration with a shift from Scotland to Sweden.

Henric shared that they use local ingredients and take full advantage of their microclimate on Isle of Veen. He explained that Spirit of Hven initially focused on single malt, but then shifted into playing with oat, corn, wheat, and other grains – including Rye. He was quite proud of what they produced in their pot still and coffey still, with this Rye expression matured in virgin QA oak.

Spirit of Hvens “Hvenus” 8 year Rye Whisky 45.6%

Nose – Heady! Loads of fruits, very sweet – candy sweet
Palate – Spice, molasses, agricole, grains
Finish – Limited

This was a distinct departure from the other Island drams. As I sipped it, I recalled my trip to Spirit of Hven back in 2021. We thoroughly enjoyed our day on the island, and I can personally attest that it takes true commitment to reach the distillery! The whisky tour was interesting, marred only by the guides’ condescending comments towards women, yet the lunch was delightful, and we really enjoyed trying different drams post-lunch.

Here’s what they have to say about this expression:

Hvenus is a unique rye whisky composed by Master Distiller Henric Molin at the distillery Spirit of Hven. Elegant and velvet smooth, yet powerful and flavorsome. Every batch comprises of 42 casks blended together, aerated and very gently filtered before bottling at 45,6 %vol. No charcoal filtration, no color or sugar added just well-made whisky matured on the best American oak (Quercus Alba) we could find.

The final grain recipe after blending the forty-two casks from four different recipes together are; 78,6% rye, 11,9% wheat, 4,8% corn and 4,8% barley. The casks are matured three to six years, partially in warehouses with controlled climate conditions. All to create a whisky with unique smoothness and bouquet.

Scent – First scent reveals dark chocolate and deep notes from the heavy charred, air-dried American oak, it is followed up by notes of creamy almond carrot cake.
Taste is strong but not overwhelming. Balance lands mid-front tongue, highlighting the creamy sweet-peppery rye character. Elegant bitter tannins play well with reserved acidity and perfectly balanced alcohol strength.

And there you have it, a session exploring the independent character of three different Islands and their whiskies.

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