Belgian Owl

Originally an oenologist and working in the wine trade, the idea for a single malt whisky distillery in Belgium was hatched by Etienne Bouillon as a means of showcasing the terroir and famously impressive barley crops of his native Hesbaye region. Bouillon selected a site in the town of Fexhe-le-Haut-Clocher, not far from the town of Liège and The Owl distillery (as it was originally known) was opened in 2004. The name was chosen as the owl is a symbol of knowledge and wisdom (required in whisky production), and anglicised in order to avoid appearing to favouring either the Dutch- or French-speaking residents of what is a bilingual nation.

The first spirit was filled into barrels on 29th October 2004 and was distilled from local Hesbaye barely on alembic stills built back in 1880. Production at the distillery is very traditional, and although the nearest maltings is 120km away in The Netherlands, the remainder of the process is entirely local. The barley is grown in fields near Fexhe-le-Haut-Clocher, the water sourced from a local well and all ageing and bottling completed on-site.

The distillery's focus on terroir-driven production brought Etienne Bouillon to the attention of legendary Bruichladdich distiller, Jim McEwan, while both were attending a whisky festival in Gent. The result was Bouillon securing an internship on Islay with McEwan where he learned much of his trade and at the end of it, he made a rejected offer to buy the disused stills they had acquired from Inverleven. McEwan's response was apparently that Scottish still should remain in Scotland.

Bouillon now had his heart set on distilling using Forsyths pot stills however, and luckily for him the Bruichladdich distiller's stance would eventually soften. In 2010 he informed him that he could procure one of the sets from Caperdonich, which Pernod Ricard were about dismantle (the other was eventually sold to the Falkirk distillery). Despite only being younger than his previous alembics by 18 years, the Caperdonich stills were significantly larger and had four-times the capacity of those he had previously intended to buy from Forsyths before McEwan called. As a result, new premises were required and work began to restore a nearby old farm building in 2011. The process took two years, and the new stills were finally installed in February 2013.

The new distillery allowed for an increase in production, as did growing demand for its product. Currently the distillery is operational for 4-5 months of the year, producing 100,000 litres of spirit which is exclusively filled into first-fill bourbon barrels acquired through a partnership with Heaven Hill Brands. In 2022, the distillery was renamed after its single malt brand, Belgian Owl, and its core range relaunched in the process.