It is a fair walk for a dram up into the hills above Dingwall.
So one community-owned distillery is to open a base-camp in the centre of the town.
The site will act as a visitor centre for the GlenWyvis Distillery, and is due to be launched this weekend.
The new facility is still under construction and will be housed within the Victoria Restaurant in Dingwall High Street.
It will be used to give information about the area’s whisky history, live links to the distillery site and retail offerings.
It will also be used to offer a gin tasting experience which will ultimately serve as the starting point for whisky heritage tours in the summer.
Although the base-camp is still under construction, bosses at the distillery are confident it will be ready to open on Saturday – and help attract tourists into the centre of Dingwall.
GlenWyvis founder and managing director, John Mckenzie, said: “Our ambition is to make Dingwall the craft-distilling town of Scotland and this has moved one step closer with the opening of GlenWyvis Basecamp.”
He added: “With the summer opening hours for GlenWyvis Basecamp still to be confirmed, the launch on Saturday will provide an early opportunity for locals and diners to get a preview. Filming also continues on a new GlenWyvis Distillery community video that will feature in the visitor centre itself – and the message of the video is clear: if you really want to help with the rejuvenation of Dingwall, then support your local community distillery – and buy GlenWyvis.”
The distillery itself is currently under construction and is due to be completed by 2021.
This weekend’s launch of the base camp will also see the lunch of a new GlenWyvis Gin, which has been launched in conjunction with the North Coast 500.
The first batch of 600 bottles will be available from the base camp, which is to become a feature on the passport scheme of landmarks adopted by the North Coast 500.
Mr McKenzie added: “GlenWyvis and NC500 share a vision of innovative, community-led development, and with GlenWyvis Basecamp set to feature on the new NC500 passport scheme we are confident this will help bring many more NC500 visitors into the centre of Dingwall both to complete the official route and collect their unique ‘passport’ stamps.”
