GLENWYVIS and Community Shares Scotland have secured an incredible £1.5 million in just over two months, in a remarkable effort to make to make a community-owned distillery project a success.
With well over 1,400 investors from over 20 countries, the investment total has soared well over the £1.5 million target in what is believed to be Scotland’s largest community share offer, to date.
Founder, John F. McKenzie, GlenWyvis Community Benefit Society, said: “It really is an historic moment and we have so much to celebrate. We have all of our investors to thank as well our GlenWyvis and Community Shares Scotland teams who put in huge effort to make this happen.
“The last few days were definitely the hardest, as the total has grown gradually towards our target – and are now excited to see it move at such a pace – so we are now aiming for our ‘stretch’ target of £2.25 million so people can still invest right up until 11.59pm on the 24 June.
“It really is history in the making and we are delighted to be able to say we will be reintroducing craft whisky distilling back to the Dingwall area after a gap of 90 years.
“It is also a testament to the goodwill of our community locally and from interest and investment globally that has helped make this a success and put Dingwall firmly on the world map.”
Community Shares Scotland, programme manager, Kelly McIntyre, added: “It is a massive achievement to reach £1 million but this is outstanding and goes to show the depth of interest that communities at large have in this type of community share project.
“The GlenWyvis community share offer has shown the appetite for community ownership in Scotland and this is another terrific example, alongside our Portpatrick Harbour community share offer success last year.
The GlenWyvis Community Share Offer opened on 16 April 2016 and closes on 24 June 2016. However, the board reserves the right to extend this deadline if the amount raised is close to the total required to proceed.
ENDS
For further information on Glenwyvis Community Share Offer Number 7305 contact: John F. Mckenzie: founder/owner
F: GlenWyvis T: @glenwyvis
W: www.glenwyvis.com
For further community shares information, contact Kelly McIntyre: Community Shares Scotland/programme manager
Email: kelly@communitysharesscotland.org.uk
For information check out: http://www.communitysharesscotland.org.uk
Twitter: @CommSharesScot
For press information, contact Fiona Stewart, PR consultant, Interwoven PR
E: fiona@interwovenpr.com/T: 07940560453 Tw: @interwovenpr
Notes to editors:
Community Shares Scotland is funded by the Big Lottery Fund Scotland and Carnegie UK Trust. Delivered by DTA Scotland, in partnership with the Plunkett Foundation, the Community Shares Unit (a joint project run by Locality and Co-operatives UK) and Rocket Science.
GlenWyvis, based in the historic Highland town of Dingwall, aims to create what is believed will be Scotland’s very first community-owned craft whisky distillery, 270 years on from the Battle of Culloden. GlenWyvis aims to raise over £1.5m of investment that will help to put whisky distilling back at the heart of Dingwall.
To ensure a high level of local ownership of the distillery, locals living in ‘IV’ postcode areas can invest for as little as £250. Investment opportunities start from £750* for UK and international investors interested in buying into this community-owned distillery, with tranches* of investment rising to a maximum investment of £100,000.
Whisky has been made in Ross-shire and Inverness-shire for centuries and inspiration has been taken from former distilleries: Ferintosh, Ben Wyvis in Dingwall and Glenskiach in Evanton.
The original Ferintosh Distillery was established by the Forbes of Culloden family in 1690, on the Black Isle just east of Dingwall, and is one of the oldest recorded whisky distilleries in Scotland. The new distillery will re-instate craft whisky distilling to the Dingwall area, some 90 years after the last of the town’s original distilleries closed down.
The famous Ferintosh brand of the day was a much loved whisky throughout Scotland and was a favourite of Scotland’s great bard, Rabbie Burns, who lamented: “Thee, Ferintosh! O sadly lost! Scotland lament frae coast to coast!” … on its closure in 1785.
The new GlenWyvis Distillery will be built on a farm above the town of Dingwall and will be 100 per cent community-owned distillery and 100 per cent powered by Green energy.
A short video in support of the GlenWyvis Distillery, Community Share Offer can be downloaded here and used for broadcast purposes with permission.
* Investment amounts and rewards: The price of a share in GlenWyvis Distillery is £50, with a minimum investment of £250 to become a member. If you are struggling to afford £250 but want to invest, we can offer joint memberships where people club together to buy a share or discuss staged payments. The maximum investment is £100,000.
Tranches and rewards
Invest £250 – £749
Postcode restriction to IV postcodes in Scotland.
One bottle gin now, t-shirt and bottle whisky in year three.
Invest £750 – £2,499
Two gin now or two inaugural whisky between Burns Day 2020 and St Andrews day 2020, t-shirt now and private distillery tour for two in 2018.
Invest £2,500 – £4,499
Six gin now or six inaugural whisky between 25/1/20 and 30/11/20, two t-shirts now and shared distillery tour in 2018 plus tour for two including 20-minute helicopter whisky history tour in 2017 flown from Dalcross Airport, Inverness, by The Flying Farmer.
Invest £4,500 – £7,499
One 64l ‘first fill’ sherry cask filled with 64l New Make spirit at circa 63% abv (please see terms and conditions on our website). Plus six gin now, two t-shirts now and shared distillery tour in 2018 plus tour for two including 20-minute helicopter whisky history tour in 2017 flown from Dalcross Airport by The Flying Farmer.
Invest £7,500 – £14,999
One 128l or two 64l ‘first fill’ sherry cask filled with New Make spirit at circa 63% abv (please see terms and conditions on our website). Case of gin now, two t-shirts now and private tour for four in 2018 plus tasting masterclass at distillery and 30-minute shared helicopter whisky history tour for two in 2017 flown from Dalcross Airport by The Flying Farmer.
Invest £15,000 – £49,999
Fill Hogshead Cask personally in 2017 and add your name on wall or roof of distillery plus case of gin now and bottle of whisky every Burns Day till year ten, including New Make spirit. A private extended 30-minute helicopter whisky history tour for four flown from Dalcross Airport by The Flying Farmer plus a private tour and tasting master class for four in 2018.
Invest £50,000 – £100,000
Investments will be considered by application only and bespoke packages similar to above can be arranged.
Casks are sold to you and become yours on successful application for shares.
Detailed terms and conditions of your cask ownership are available on our website, www.glenwyvis.com/.
These include that UK Duty and VAT may be payable after bottling; that you are a private individual purchasing for private consumption or gifting and that you many not sell on or trade for profit, the bottled whisky. A 64l cask will produce around 100 bottles of whisky at 46% abv. Assuming a bottling cost of £5 per bottle and VAT and duty at current rates, each bottle would cost you £20.
Tax Relief We have applied for advance assurance from HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC) that the shares in GlenWyvis Distillery are eligible for tax relief under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) – these are Government-backed schemes designed to encourage investment in smaller companies. If you are a UK tax payer, investors in GlenWyvis Distillery can apply for income tax relief after the start of trading.
GlenWyvis Distillery (Dingwall) Limited has been established as a Co-operative and Community Benefit Society with the specific purpose of owning and operating a community-owned whisky distillery and visitor centre in Dingwall to benefit the community of Dingwall.
Whisky Stills will be supplied by the prestigious company, Forsyth of Rothes, and will be delivered in September 2016.
Green credentials: GlenWyvis Distillery will run entirely on energy produced using the renewable technologies – hydro, wind and solar already used on the farm. An advanced heating system will be powered by biomass and solar thermal and water from both the Skiach River and Tulloch Spring will be used to make the whisky with a borehole being used to supply the process water required.
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All facts correct at the time of publishing noted at the top of the press release.
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