The Borders – new life for a neglected whisky region
In my work station I keep a list of all the distilleries of Scotland, and how they have featured on this blog. Some are marked yellow, which means they have been featured but not yet on its own, but more likely in a line-up. Then there are the red ones, more difficult to come by, because most times they represent totally new distilleries. From those very new arrivals on the Scotch whisky scene it is not easy to predict when you will taste them, let alone blog about it. Looking back on 2026, we were lucky to get to taste new releases from Aberargie and The Borders – the latter one making its debut on LPA today! As part of my trip to Speyside in June, I also managed to tick off the boxes of Balmaud, Burnobennie, The Cabrach and Dunphail. Check them out in Tom’s Dram Diary. I even tasted a very rare The Cairn. Lots of red turning to green in 2026! Now let me introduce to you a new Lowland malt.
Hawick is the hometown of The Borders Distillery and located in the region of the same name. This is the ultra south of the Lowlands whisky region, indeed very close to the border with England. Whisky distilling has been rare, since no new outfit has started production here since the late 1830s. Browsing through the trusted “Scotch Missed” by Brian Townsend, we read about two quite impressive sites named Glen Tarras and Langholm, both situated in Langholm, some 25 miles towards Carlisle from Hawick.
The Langholm Distillery was built on a rock ‘that projects into the River Esk’, wrote whisky journalist Alfred Barnard when he visited. Apparently, the views were amazing. Langholm was a very old distillery, even by then, as it started distilling in 1765. Langholm was available as a single malt (or “self whisky” as Barnard calls it) and was mainly sold in England. It stopped distilling after the First World War. Interestingly, the water supply of the city is arranged thus that two thirds go to the city, one third to the distillery. Even though Langholm is now long gone, the arrangement is still valid today (source: Brian Townsend). A few miles further is Glen Tarras Distillery, which worked from 1839 till just after 1900. This malt also seemed to be a popular tipple of choice for the London society, and Alfred Barnard even got to taste a 10 years old when he visited.
Fast forward a few centuries and we landed in 2013, when four former employees of William Grant & Sons got the idea of restructuring Edwardian electrical works into a distillery. Check out their Tour page for a glimpse of the magnificent building. First spirit flowed again in The Borders in 2018. With a capacity of up to 1.6 million litres per year, there is enough Lowland malt to go round. Some releases have been done in all kinds of variations, but the below bottling is the first true Single Malt Scotch Whisky from The Borders.
The Borders 8 years old, First Release, bottled at 46 % abv
First things first: Limited to 10.000 bottles, this first release from The Borders Distillery was matured in first-fill bourbon casks. It also received an unspecified amount of time in Madeira casks to finish this expression. Other information is that the fermentation lasted 72 hours.
Upon Sipping: The nose opens on whiffs of mineralities and freshly cut grass on a warm summers’ day. Hints of vanilla and sizzling baking butter. Then obvious caramel and honey. When I first cracked the bottle open, the Madeira influence was too invasive for me, but it seems that the open bottle settled after a few days. The fruits are quite nice, very mellow. The taste is a tad too dry for me, but the lemony juiciness is nice. In true Lowland style, this The Borders 8 years old is demanding. Lowland malt has always provided lots of raw backbone to (blended) whisky, and The Borders does not seem to make an exception. It feels raw, fierce, unpolished, and the Madeira puts a signature on it, especially towards the finish. The finish itself carries nuttiness and hints of maple syrup. Water brings out a perfumy note on the nose, together with wet pebbles in a river. More honey and caramel. The palate does not take the dilution well, which means The Borders already bottled this themselves at the perfect drinking strength.
Word to the Wise: I am at times impressed by this release, as it offers a lot while also still displaying rough edges. I can’t help but wonder what a more naked version of The Borders would taste like; just maturation in bourbon casks. Maybe that stayed too bland, which I can imagine, making the Madeira finish not the worst idea. Still, curiosity… The Borders is one to start following, for sure.
Score: 82 points.