Charles enjoys dram at most northerly whisky distillery on UK mainland

Prince Charles has bottled a specially engraved whisky at the UK mainland’s most northerly distillery.

The Duke of Rothesay, as he is known while in Scotland, visited Wolfburn Distillery near Thurso in the Highlands on Monday.

He was given a tour of the premises and sampled two of its drinks.

Prince Charles drinking whisky
Prince Charles drinking whisky

Charles had a sniff of a 63.5% ABV “new make” – which will later be used to make whisky – which he described as being a “very good one for clearing the nose”.

The royal was also offered a dram of Northland Single Malt Scotch Whisky and asked if he would like a glass, to which he joked: “Yes please – I’m not going to drink it out of the bottle.”

Members of the public were waiting outside for a chance to grab a glimpse of Charles, who wandered over to the crowds for a chat.

He spoke to a group who were doing a charity fundraising cycle from nearby John o’ Groats to Land’s End.

Prince Charles in distillery
Prince Charles in distillery

Laura Amber, 27, from Manchester, said: “He was very friendly and very nice.

“We stumbled across the place and wanted to have a little tour but couldn’t because there was a special visitor that beat us to it.”

Lenore Eng, 54, from Toronto, Canada, said: “I found him incredibly charming, he had incredible eye contact, he was very interested in all of our work – so that was good.

“He had a special little dram and I’m sure we will tonight.”

Charles was then given a demonstration of the bottling process before filling his own container with Aurora whisky.

The glass was engraved with HRH The Duke of Rothesay to mark the occasion.

Charles bottling a whisky
Charles bottling a whisky

Charles also toured Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm before unveiling a plaque to mark its official opening.

He described the Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm, situated near a former oil field in the Moray Firth, as an “engineering feat”.

The 84-turbine development will be able to power up to 450,000 homes and will generate £2.4 billion to the UK economy over its lifespan, with £1 billion expected to come to Scotland.

The Duke of Rothesay is understood to have asked project bosses about the marine conservation around the wind project and the local jobs created at Wick harbour.

HRH The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay @ClarenceHouse officially opens Beatrice Offshore Windfarm https://t.co/2IfaHP3diq

#BeatriceBuilt#renewablespic.twitter.com/oofUNh4GTs

— SSE Plc (@SSE) July 29, 2019

Willie Watt, a former Wick harbour chairman and local resident, called the creation of 370 local jobs for the town and 90 for the harbour itself “the best news in 100 years”.

He added: “This is a great day after years of difficulty for the town.

“The wind farm has brought a new industry, new jobs and apprenticeships for young people to the area.”

WWF Scotland director Lang Banks said: “Scotland is already generating record amounts of power from renewable sources helping us to avoid millions of tonnes of climate-wrecking carbon emissions every year.

“The addition of power from huge offshore wind farms such Beatrice will help us to decarbonise even more of our economy, including our heating and transport sectors.”

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