Jackton Distillery has launched RAER Single Malt Scotch Whisky, The Inaugural Release, from the family-run Kean farm outside Glasgow. The first bottles will ship on Friday 4 September 2026, returning locally distilled single malt to South Lanarkshire after a gap of more than 180 years.
Historic records suggest Jackton is the first distillery to distil, mature and bottle its own single malt in South Lanarkshire in almost two centuries.
The last historic malt distillery within the modern boundaries of South Lanarkshire was Gill, near Lesmahagow, which closed in 1840.
After a 186-year hiatus, Jackton filled its first cask in February 2020. The path of the Gill Burn River runs through the modern Jackton estate.
Historic distilleries including Gill, Castle Hill at Carluke, Avonglen at Larkhall and Wilsontown near Carnwath form part of the area’s largely forgotten whisky heritage.
“South Lanarkshire has a whisky story that many people won’t know, so this launch feels bigger than us,” said Jaynie Kean, managing director of Jackton Distillery. “The history came long before Jackton, but to bring locally distilled single malt back to this area after 180 years is incredibly special for our family and team.
“We laid down our first casks in February 2020, just before the world changed. Since then, we’ve watched, waited, tasted and worked towards the point where we could finally share a single malt with the RAER name on the bottle.”
The Inaugural Release has been drawn from Bourbon, Pedro Ximénez, Amontillado and Oloroso sherry casks. It is bottled at 48.7% ABV, natural color and non-chill filtered.
Limited to 6,000 individually hand-numbered bottles, the whisky is priced at £68. The bottle introduces the RAER View, a front-label window that changes as the whisky is consumed. Every future RAER release will carry its own RAER View.
“Our first single malt is collectable, of course, but we hope people open it too,” Kean added.
From 4 September, visitors to the distillery can taste RAER as part of the tour experience. The release will travel across Scotland on a roadshow from 5 to 12 September, followed by an Edinburgh event on 13 September.
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