Orkney’s latest food and drink destination has opened its doors.
The Dashing Deer Kitchen & Bar at the Deerness Distillery in the East Mainland has been welcoming its first guests over the past week, with visitors keen to sample the local larder and the distillery’s own award-winning range of spirits too.
Building work on the new café and bar area began in January, with the team documenting their journey on social media throughout the process. Despite the inclement Orcadian weather, which pushed the project back by more than a month, a herculean effort in September saw the tables set and cocktails shaken for the very first time.
“It was a big relief to finally open – such a lot of work has gone into the last eight weeks or so from everyone,” says distillery owner, Stuart Brown. “We’ve basically been full throttle since the start of the year, and a huge thanks has to go to our construction team of GB Services, David Foubister Joinery, Steven Pottinger, Steven R Paterson, Bill Robertson, and our architect, Leslie Burgher. We’ve had great support from Orkney Islands Council to help us get open too.”
The Dashing Deer Kitchen & Bar is an extra incentive to visit this part of Orkney, famed for its beaches, coastline, and stunning sea views. Food and drink is available between Tuesdays to Sundays between 10am and 5pm all-year-round, with the bar open on Friday and Saturday evenings between 6pm and 11pm.
“The menu has lots of fantastic Orkney produce available, and it will change with the seasons. There’s a kid’s menu too, so families are really welcome to come and pay us a visit,” says Stuart. “We’ve got lots of local drinks for people to try, including our own range of spirits, and delicious cocktails in the bar at night.”
Early impressions from visitors have been very positive, with patrons enjoying their lunches and light bites in the bright, spacious café, with fabulous views out over the Deerness farmland to Copinsay in the distance. “We’ve had so much love and support from locals and tourists to the area, even in our first week, and we’re incredibly grateful for that,” says Stuart. “Opening at the end of the main visitor season is a bit of a blessing in disguise too – although we’ve been extremely busy, we will have that little bit more time to grow into our menus and drink offerings, and make tweaks here and there.”
There are plans in place for special events around the festive season, and guest chef evenings are in the works too. The distillery also has a new tour room in the works which it’s hoped will be ready in spring 2025, enhancing the popular visitor experience already on offer here.
For most businesses, that would be enough new builds and expansions. But Stuart and partner Adelle don't plan on stopping there. The next project will see the arrival of the final parts of the distillery’s whisky-making facilities, including mash tuns and fermentation tanks. They’ll join the whisky stills that are already in place and visible from the café area.
“We’re busy rearranging the older part of the distillery to accommodate our new whisky tanks, which will give us 10,000L of fermented mash to produce our whisky,” says Stuart. “The aim is to get our first make underway in late November.”
It might be based in a quiet corner of the Orkney mainland, but it’s definitely all go at the Deerness Distillery.
Visit the official Deerness Distillery website to find out more about the business and order online.