Nc’nean: Annabel Thomas about products, series and sustainability

Nc’nean is one of the most exciting young distilleries in Scotland. Founded with the ambition to operate uncompromisingly sustainably, the organic distillery on the west coast has established itself internationally in a short space of time. Since the last interview in May 2023, a lot has happened: new products, numerous awards and the re-certification as a B Corp.

We look back on this with founder Annabel Thomas. She talks about the development of Nc’nean, new products and series, as well as the role of sustainability in the whisky industry.

Dear Annabel, we last spoke in May 2023. A lot has happened since then. How have you and Nc’nean been doing?

Annabel Thomas: We, Nc’nean and I, are both well thank you! There has been lots going on at Nc’nean since 2023 – we’ve launched into the US, we’ve recertified as a B Corp with an even higher score and have launched lots of new products!

What have been the highlights of that time?

Annabel Thomas: It’s always nice when we win recognition for our products – we’ve won a San Francisco Double Gold for our flagship whisky and were awarded Sustainable Distillery of the Year for the Icons of Whisky awards as well as multiple other awards. More recently we created our very own whisky cream liqueur which sold out straight away.

A personal highlight for me was re-certifying as a B Corp, this time with a score of 147, even higher than our last score, and very much a reflection of all the hard work we’ve been doing on environmental protection and people.

How have you been able to develop sustainability and environmental protection further? How important are they for the entire industry in general?

Annabel Thomas: They remain absolutely critical for both us and the industry. Our recent achievements have included reducing our direct emissions (scope 1 and 2) by 42% in 2024 and continuing to grow our refill scheme – refills now count for 18% of all bottles bought from our distillery.

It is more vital than ever for everyone in the industry to reduce their emissions and put in place sustainable practices – neither the consumer nor the planet will wait.

Let’s look at some products: Lemon Meadow was the Nc’nean Huntress 2025. How did the product come about? What makes it special?

Annabel Thomas: Our Huntress series is all about experimenting in early-stage production to push the boundaries of what Scotch whisky can be. Last year’s release was very special as it was our first ever yeast trial from back in 2017 – we used a yeast originally derived from sparkling wine production – and it created this beautifully lemony whisky balanced with butteriness and hints of chamomile.

For your latest product, you collaborated with the legendary Scottish brewery Innis & Gunn. What kind of whisky did you create?

Annabel Thomas: This year it was our distiller Simon’s turn in our Quiet Rebels series. Simon is a beer fanatic, so we partnered with our favourite Scottish brewer Innis & Gunn. We sent them some of our STR red wine casks which they filled with their beer and then sent back for us to finish our whisky in. The result is a buttery, chocolatey stout-cask finished whisky with a hint of baking spices. It has been super-popular!

What Quiet Rebels have there been so far – beside Simon? What is the idea behind the series?

Annabel Thomas: Our Quiet Rebels series is all about celebrating our team. Each year someone gets to work with our blender to create the whisky based on the flavours they like.

So far, we have had 5 Quiet Rebels releases – Annabel, Lorna, Gordon, Simon and Sarah. We did two this year as Simon and Sarah are married so of course they needed one each! Sarah isn’t a big fan of neat whisky but loves a cream liqueur so that is exactly what we created for her using our organic single malt.

You were able to present your products in October at the first Whisky Live Germany in Hamburg, organised by Kirsch Import. How did the event go?

Annabel Thomas: Whisky Live Germany was a fantastic inaugural event where we got to see lots of familiar faces as well as introduce new people to the world of Nc’nean. In celebration of their first event, we created a very single cask release featuring a specially created piece of artwork on the bottle’s label and had the painting on display at the stand!

What does the collaboration with Kirsch Import look like for Germany? What joint activities and plans are there for 2026?

Annabel Thomas: We have got lots of exciting plans in the pipeline for 2026 in Germany including another tour with me, hopefully, going back to lots of our favorite events such as Nuremberg and Whisky Live Germany, and some new events too – watch this space!

What else is coming up for Nc’nean this year?

Annabel Thomas: We have a few exciting things in the pipeline for this year – aside from our regular Quiet Rebels and Huntress releases, we also need to decide whether we roll out our cream liqueur as a permanent product. And then behind the scenes we will be beavering away working on what might come in 2027 – it’s unbelievable to think we’ll have been distilling for 10 years by then and we’re working on something very special to celebrate it!

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+++ We would like to thank Annabel Thomas for the open and very interesting interview! If you also have an interesting brand, then we should talk. Just send us an e-mail with the subject “about-drinks interview” to redaktion@about-drinks.com – we look forward to hearing from you! +++