The sustainable whisky brand that’s flying the flag for Burns country lowlands …

Written on behalf of South Ayrshire Ambition Programme.

Robert Burns fans all over the world might immediately associate Lochlea Farm with being the home of our globally renowned poet. But these days the same land that Burns farmed has also become home to the Lochlea whisky brand, a star in its own right.

Ten years since the first 50 acres of barley was grown, Lochlea now boasts a team of fifteen, supplying almost 400 UK stockists and 25 export markets with the Lochlea core brand as well as seasonal limited editions.

With focussed plans going forward, Lochlea made their first approach for funding assistance and contacted the Ambition programme at South Ayrshire Council. This initial contact led to a package of expert support including 3 days productivity support, 3 days digital support and 5 days expert help to produce a feasibility study.

The support included expert analysis of current processes and a visit to a larger Glasgow based distillery as a learning journey.

Alison Fagan, Finance Director explains a bit more about how this support has been highly beneficial –

“Our team at Lochlea are all exceptionally busy with the day to day business of running the distillery and so having this extra support from the Ambition programme has been most welcome. It has enabled us to home in on three main areas of development for us.

We have been very impressed with the outcomes and level of detail supplied so far and really appreciate the positive and supportive relationship we have with our Business Advisor. It feels as though we now have an open dialogue going forward which is ideal.”

The future of Lochlea seems exciting and ambitious. The team have been deep diving into customer preferences which has led to some new whisky skews launching later this year.

Longer term the team have focussed goals so watch this space for developments!

Sustainability remains at the heart of the business - take a look at lochleadistillery.com for an impressive read on extremely well thought out sustainability processes. Working closely with the land is a priority for the team at Lochlea and this truly means that the sky is the limit!

This case study was written on behalf of https://www.ambitionprogramme.co.uk/