An award-winning small craft distillery, situated in the wild and remote north of Scotland, Dunnet Bay Distillers was set up just over a decade ago by husband-and-wife team, Martin and Claire Murray with a vision to create a sustainable industry and environment for the local community to thrive.

In this time, Martin and Claire have mastered the art of white liquor distilling and the creation  and building of distinctive brands.  They are now turning their considerable time and energy towards restoring a rundown Mill into the home of Northern whisky distilling while at the same time building a constantly evolving environment to support local community entrepreneurship.

In engaging with Supertonic they were immediately struck by the level of interest expressed in the location and environment, drawing upon the heritage in stone, seed and water and the resilience and hardiness of these and this most Northern community of Highland Scots.

High Level Lens for Castletown Mill

Martin explains “we knew what we wanted , we just didn’t know how to create this into reality, Supertonic drew this into life”. 

Linking local materials into brand enhancement

 By visiting site, initial drawings were immediately enhanced by greater understanding of stone and slate, colours and materials, situated in and around the old Mill.  Martin is now finding and keeping all artifacts on site, and with the help of Supertonic exploring what these mean, so the stories, myths and legends from around the area can be woven into the fabric of the Old Mill restoration project and customer experience.  Martin explains “Supertonic have changed our thinking from the creation of a static space to an ever-evolving building which offers flexible space, accessible to all”.  With Supertonic as a partner, the concept is to create an environment  with distinct seasonality which moves and changes as more is uncovered.  This also invites an added bonus of a continuously evolving visitor experience, exciting for both locals and repeat visitors.   

As they wait for planning permission to come through, Martin and Supertonic are in regular touch.  Martin speaks of their ability to “see things that others don’t see” and cites an example of how he now thinks about light; harnessing the daylight of the wide Caithness skies to create luminosity in a space and conversely how to use the darkness of the night sky to create atmosphere and warmth.

Integrating light and colour

Martin is adamant that this is the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship with Supertonic and that by working together they will create a building and environment testament to its people, its heritage and to time itself.