Kythe Distillery

Kythe Distillery is a single malt Scotch whisky distillery located at Hills of Bendochty Farm in Perthshire, Scotland. Founded by three lifelong whisky enthusiasts — Jonny McMillan, Angus MacRaild, and Aaron Chan — Kythe is built around a singular mission: to recreate the characterful, wax-and-fruit-forward style of Highland single malts that disappeared from Scotland's distilleries in the 1970s and 1980s, as the industry pursued efficiency over quality.

The project addresses a long-standing gap in the Scotch whisky market. As industrial pressures reshaped production across Scotland over the past fifty years — reducing fermentation times, switching to high-yield barley, and abandoning direct-fire distillation — the distinctive qualities that once defined great Highland malts were largely lost. Kythe's founders believe those qualities can be revived through uncompromising attention to ingredients, technique, and time.

Kythe's production process is deliberately traditional and labour-intensive. The distillery uses locally grown heritage barley varieties, ferments in wooden washbacks for up to two weeks, and distils in a directly wood-fired wash still — the only commercially scaled example of such a still in Scotland. The result is a spirit with lower yields but considerably more character. This approach also reduces the distillery's carbon emissions by an estimated 94% compared to a standard kerosene-boiler operation.

The distillery was conceived in 2014 and completed construction in summer 2025, entirely funded by a global group of whisky enthusiasts rather than institutional investors. It raised £1.7 million ahead of its first production run, with limited cask purchasing opportunities available to private buyers. The company plans to release its first single malt at between five and eight years of age, guided by the distillate's development rather than a fixed timeline.