The Borders Distillery

Heritage attraction

Explorer Tom

The Borders Distillery has put whisky back to work in a handsome former electrical works in Hawick, which is a rather good second career for a building built around energy. Old brick and steel meet copper stills here, and the town’s long habit of making things continues indoors. Come ready to look up as well as into your glass. The distillery began in 2018 after the old works was restored. Hawick made its name with textiles, and this building once housed the town’s Urban Electric Company. The old glass roof and a steel hoist structure survive within the new visitor setting. A place that once helped power the town now turns local barley and water into spirit; if the walls could choose a toast, they might ask for one to useful reinvention. The distillery says it buys barley from Borders farms within about thirty miles and draws water from beneath the building. Fermentation takes around three days before the wash reaches four copper stills. A tour explains these better than a label. The restored architecture is part of the visit, too: keep an eye on the glass above and the machinery that the former works would have recognised as fellow tradespeople. The operator offers bookable tours in Hawick and publishes current options on its own website. Check the tour calendar, age rules and opening before setting out, and arrange a safe journey home if you plan to taste. You can enjoy the building and the story without pretending whisky sprang from nowhere. Hawick has been making useful things for centuries; this is one of its newer arguments that the habit is alive and well.

What is recorded here

Map note: The Borders Distillery, a heritage attraction, is mapped near Hawick, Scottish Borders, Scotland. See what else is around it before planning your day.

From OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors) w894285008

This does not grant access. Check current paths, opening conditions and ownership before entering.