SCAPA 1985 GORDON & MACPHAIL

Scapa distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery on The Mainland of Orkney, Scotland on the shore of Scapa Flow near the town of Kirkwall. Scapa is the second-northernmost whisky distillery in Scotland, 800 metres south of the Highland Park Distillery. The distillery was founded in 1885 by Macfarlane & Townsend, a Glasgow blender. The distillery was almost destroyed by fire in 1919 but was saved by nearby sailors forming a human chain carrying buckets of sea water to extinguish the fire. In 1994 the distillery was mothballed, with limited production being occasionally carried out from 1997 by nearby staff from Highland Park distillery. Ownership of the distillery had passed to Allied distillers when they bought Hiram Walker in 1987 and in 2004, when facing definitive closure, the company decided to rebuild and restore the distillery. In 2005, ownership passed to Pernod Ricard and full production recommenced in October 2005. In 2015, a visitor centre opened at the distillery.