The borders: a new whisky region?
Rethinking How We Define Scotch Whisky in Scotland’s rarest whisky region
The Problem with Forcing Regional Labels
For more than a century, Scotch whisky has been discussed through the familiar lens of regionality – Highlands, Lowlands, Islay, and Speyside. These classifications were useful when production was concentrated in historic centres, but they are increasingly inadequate in the modern distilling landscape.
Nowhere is this more evident than in our region of the Borders, where whisky is not a continuation of an existing regional style, but a re-emergence of Scotch whisky in a place shaped by land, crops and people.
The question we have is not which region we belong to but whether we should belong to one at all.
In this blog we question, the Borders: a new whisky region?
Pictured: Borders Malt & Rye
Historical Absence of Distilling
Unlike Speyside or Islay, the Borders does not carry a continuous lineage of licensed distillation. The last distillery in the Scottish Borders closed in 1837. While illicit whisky-making almost certainly occurred, as it did across rural Scotland, there was no sustained commercial infrastructure that evolved into a recognised regional identity.
This absence is often misread as a weakness. In reality, it represents freedom.
Because there is no inherited template to replicate, our distillers are not reconstructing a lost style; they are building one from first principles. There are no expectations of peat levels, house character, or flavour orthodoxy imposed by history.
Agricultural Strengths: A Region Defined by Raw Material
If traditional whisky regions were shaped by waterways and trade routes, the Borders is shaped by agriculture.
The area is:
- One of Scotland’s most productive barley-growing landscapes
- Defined by mixed arable farming rather than rugged terrain
- Historically tied to grain quality, not just spirit production
In the Borders, provenance of grain is not an abstract marketing concept; it is embedded in the local economy.
Freedom of Identity: Making Our Own Legacy
Most Scotch regions carry stylistic expectations:
- Speyside offers fruit-forward elegance
- Islay offers peat and maritime influence
- Highlands offers stylistic breadth but historical framing
The Borders carries none of these expectations.
That absence allows us to:
- Experiment with mash bills, including rye and heritage grains
- Use diverse cask types
- Define flavour through intent rather than inheritance
This creative latitude aligns more closely with new-world whisky philosophies than with Scotch’s Victorian-era classifications.
Why the Borders Does Not Belong to Any Other Region
We are often asked why we don’t call ourselves a Lowland Whisky. Attempting to classify Borders whisky as Lowland (the most common suggestion) is flawed.
Lowland whisky historically reflected:
- Huge-scale production
- Proximity to urban markets
- Whiskies described as ‘light’, ‘floral’ and ‘fresh’
The Borders shares neither the production history nor the stylistic drivers that defined that category.
To assign it elsewhere would be to prioritise administrative convenience over geographic, agricultural, and philosophical reality… and we’re not about that.
The Borders is a unique place – visit us and find out for yourself.
Final Thoughts
“The borders: a new whisky region?” is not an argument against Scotch tradition, but it is evidence that Scotch has always evolved. The classifications we treat as permanent were themselves responses to geography, economics, and technology.
The Borders simply represents the next stage of that evolution: a whisky landscape defined not by where it fits, but by what it is becoming, and we’re thrilled to take you on that journey with us.
Cheers to that!
The Borders: a new whisky region? We say aye.
FAQs
WAS WHISKY MADE in the borders BEFORE?
Almost certainly, yes. On a small and often illicit scale, as was common across rural Scotland. However, there was no enduring licensed distilling tradition that shaped a recognised style. Today’s production is a revival, not a continuation.
WHAT MAKES REGIONAL CHARACTER IN SCOTCH WHISKY?
Historically, regional character emerged from a combination of local raw materials, climate and maturation conditions, production methods passed through generations, market access and trade networks, modern distilling challenges this model by allowing intentional design to play a larger role than inherited practice.
CAN NEW scotch whisky REGIONS COMPETE WITH FAMOUS ONES?
They are not competing on the same terms. Legacy regions trade on continuity and recognisable flavour archetypes. Newer origins like the Borders offer something different: transparency of ingredients, flexibility of method, and the ability to reflect contemporary whisky-making rather than historic constraints. As consumers become more interested in provenance and experimentation, these emerging identities may prove just as influential as the established names.
THE BORDERS, BOTTLED.
Explore our range of experimental Blended Scotch Whiskies, Borders Gin & Vodka.
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Right As Rain£35.00 -
The Long & Short of it£35.00 -
Borders Malt & Rye£35.00 -
Puffing Billy Steam Vodka£30.00 -
Kerr’s Gin£30.00
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Winner of the Tripadvisor 2023 Travelers’ Choice Award
‘Beautiful distillery. Had an excellent tour with a very passionate and enthusiastic distiller who was our tour guide. Super impressed with the efficiency and mindfulness with which the Whisky, Vodka and Gin are prepared, taking care to not waste but recycle. Thank you Cerys for an informative tour.‘
Mallika, distillery visitor
