Plans for new warehouses on the outskirts of Glenrothes will allow two growing Fife whisky companies to greatly expand their businesses.
John Fergus and Co Limited and Wemyss Family Spirits Limited are seeking permission to build new whisky maturation warehouses adjacent to the InchDairnie Distillery complex in a bid to further develop their burgeoning brands.
John Fergus and Co Ltd, which established InchDairnie in 2014 and has since built eight maturation warehouses and a whisky blending facility, is seeking to expand its existing footprint by creating 16 warehouses to the west, while Wemyss Family Spirits is looking to build their first 12 whisky maturation warehouses and associated facilities on land to the south.
A spokesperson for John Fergus and Co Ltd, which is spearheading the planning application to Fife Council, said the company has already created 15 full-time permanent jobs at the existing distillery and maturation facility, with another four posts likely to be needed if the expansion plans get the go ahead.
“Both companies wish to strengthen their Scotch Whisky businesses in Fife by both creating maturation warehouses and by expanding existing maturation warehouses,” the spokesperson explained.
“Wemyss Family Spirits will build in the south section of the land and this will be their first whisky maturation warehouses and whisky processing facility while John Fergus and Co Ltd will expand its existing maturation facility.
“Both companies having distilleries in Fife and want also to mature their whiskies in Fife.
“Fife grown, Fife distilled, and Fife matured.”
John Fergus and Co Ltd uses barley grown in Fife for its branded whiskies and it wants whiskies distilled in Fife from this barley to be matured in Fife.
As yet the company has not launched any of its brands as the whiskies are still maturing.
However, in addition to producing malt whisky for its own brands, it also produces whiskies for its strategic partner MacDuff International, which is exporting blended whiskies to many different countries throughout the world.
Meanwhile, Wemyss Family Spirits is part of the same group that owned the Kingsbarns distillery and is currently renting maturation warehouse capacity in Fife.
The company now wants to own and have control over its own maturation warehouses in Fife, which will mature spirit from the Kingsbarns distillery and wider companies.
