A working farm, reimagined
Lochlea has always been a working farm. By 2014 it became clear that beef farming alone would not secure its future.
For a farm of this size, the question was not whether change was needed but what kind of change would connect the land and its history with the skills of the people who farm it.
Every farm has unique qualities and the farmer must use these to their advantage
A farm at a crossroads
When Neil and Jen McGeoch moved to Lochlea in 2006 they ran a pedigree beef suckler herd, using the abundance of lush grazing to grow strong fleshy beef cattle.
Barley has always been grown at Lochlea, historically feed had been grown for livestock.
In 2015, the question was asked:
What if it could be grown for something more?
Rather than rushing into production, a small experiment began sowing 20 acres of spring barley to try and harvest 50 tons of malting barley. The aim was not certainty, but understanding.
What followed was a period of quiet learning.
Learning quietly
There was no press release and no rush to build. Instead, time was spent learning from mistakes, understanding how barley behaved in Lochlea’s soil and building relationships within the malting and whisky industries.
This period shaped confidence slowly grounded not in ambition, but in evidence.
"We didn’t rush to build a distillery.
We worked away quietly understanding land and gaining confidence in the farm to bottle concept."
The moment of conviction
The experiment worked. The barley performed well, the understanding grew on how to malt, how to distill and then mature.
What had begun as a question developed into confidence, Lochlea would not simply grow barley. It would distil it.
The decision was made to build and operate a single malt distillery on the farm, keeping control of the process from field through to spirit.
This was not diversification for its own sake. It was a researched but brave commitment across two industries.
Why whisky and why here
Whisky was chosen because it respects time, land and patience. It rewards care rather than speed and allows the character of place to be carried forward in an amazing product.
The synergy between Robert Burns, Lochlea and whisky is uncanny.
Choosing whisky was simply allowing the land to speak in another form.
"Freedom an’ whisky gang thegither."
The build begins
In 2017, construction started to transform some of Lochlea’s traditional farm buildings into a working distillery. The former piggery, byre and midden were carefully converted to house the distillation process, while the cattle sheds were repurposed as bonded warehouses for maturation.
Every change was made with long-term quality in mind adapting what already existed rather than building something imposed on the land.
The farm entered a new phase of its life.
When Spirit First Flowed
In August 2018, Lochlea’s stills were commissioned and the first spirit was distilled on site and on the 29th of August, 29 casks were filled and rolled into the warehouse to commence maturation.
What had begun as a question and then a conviction became reality. Barley grown in the surrounding fields was transformed into new make spirit for the first time, filled into cask and left to rest within the farm’s own warehouses
