Glen Auldyn, the spritual home of our brand, is without doubt one of the most magical places on the Isle of Man – steeped in folklore and history. READ >>> The Fynoderee Folk Story <<<

It is also the location where Norse invaders first attacked the indigenous Celts. They had a hard time defeating the Celts but over the course of several battles they eventually triumphed in 1079AD at the Battle of Scacafell (Skyhill) and the Viking era of rule began; including with it, the start of Tynwald, the Isle of Man’s independent parliament that still governs today and is in fact the oldest continuous parliament in the world.

Manx independence carries through in many aspects of life here on the Island and this freedom will allow The Fynoderee Distillery to operate and develop its own high standards of production and experimentation.

Despite historically not being known as a whiskey island (we’re confident that crofters will have created their own versions!). the Isle of Man Government must have had a premonition… when it enacted the “Manx Whiskey Regulations 1995” which set out the legal parameters that we must adhere to. Thankfully, the bar is set very high, which is exactly how we like it, but the regulations do allow for us to experiment and develop a whiskey with its own unique Manx characteristics.

33 miles long by 13 miles at its widest point, the Isle of Man is swathed in low lying, highly fertile plains with a backbone of high moorland and rugged hills.

The Island's temperate climate and topography, surrounded by the Gulf Stream waters of the Irish Sea, has made it an ideal location for growing malting barley with genuine provenance and unique ‘terroir’.

The Manx people have farmed and tended the land for thousands of years. This rich agricultural heritage and expertise, combined with the favourable excise regime installed by the Lord of Mann centuries ago, made the Isle of Man one of the world’s most successful exporters of beer at one stage in our collective history.

Then, in 2021, The Fynoderee Distillery commissioned the Island’s first ever crop of 'Laureate Barley' - a ‘distiller’s grain’ with a proven track record for making high quality malt spirit.

An abundant crop, grown on a coastal farm on the fossiliferous limestone peninsula of Scarlett in the south of the Island, resulted in a yield exceeding 50 tonnes.

The care and attention to our crop was superbly managed by local farmer Pentii Christian - to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude for his mastery, and patience with what was akin to dealing with expectant parents!

With no malthouse on the Island (for now) we needed to send our grain away for malting. With quality being at the top of our list, we only wanted to work with the best. Warminster Maltings, traditional maltsters with a heritage dating back over 165 years, were always going to be our first choice.

We were overjoyed when we visited their historical buildings to see our Manx barley “in the green” on the traditional malting floor of Warminster (pictured above). To then be told by owner Robin Appel, that our grain was among the very finest grown in Britain of that year was the icing on the cake.

As you would expect, the quality of their work was simply outstanding, maximising the flavour potential from every single grain. We cannot thank them enough for their patience and expertise.

WORT

Whilst a custom brew house will be a focal part of our new bespoke distillery in the years to come, in the meantime, we have arrangements with the Island’s largest two breweries to make 'wort' for us from our Laureate Manx Malt.

WASH

The wort is then transported to The Fynoderee Distillery in Ramsey for fermentation, where we add our chosen strains of yeast to create our house 'wash'.

This ensures we are achieving the highest standards of production at every stage of the process whilst also overseeing the key stages of flavour creation and extraction.

We are already experimenting with different yeasts and looking to quickly create a house style of wash for our future flagship Ushtey Bea Fynoderee – Isle of Man Single Malt.

WATER

Our “green hills by the sea” are green for good reason! The Isle of Man is blessed with high rainfall and a sophisticated supply of pristine, soft water ideal for 'mashing'.

When it comes to reducing our whiskey for bottling, we have various water options available - including the use of Manx natural spring water or bore holing.

Alongside our original alembic copper pot stills and i-Still 2000, we always intended to produce our whiskey using traditional purpose-built stills.

Our dual copper pot still system, the only one of its kind in Europe, is perfect from both a distilling and aesthetic point of view and will be used exclusively for producing our whiskey.

Our dual pots (pictured above) get their names from Norse mythology. “Huginn and Muninn” are the pair of Ravens that sit on the Norse God Odin’s shoulders. They fly all over the world, returning to him with a wealth of information and insight. In old Norse, these names translate to ‘Thought’ (Huginn) and “Memory and Emotion” (Muninn).

Our initial production of Ushtey Bea Fynoderee will be aged in ‘first fill’ Bourbon casks, originating from the Heavens Hill Distillery in Kentucky, USA and supplied to us by Speyside Cooperage in Scotland.

We are incredibly lucky to be working with an experienced cooper on Island who is assisting us with our cask maintenance. Orry Williams learnt his craft in the wine industry of Australia and we can’t wait to introduce you to him along with other members of our distilling team.

While no fixed decisions have been made, it is our intention to work with different ‘finishing’ barrels and we already have several custom-made STR quarter casks in the distillery primed for experimentation.