Vinegar – but not as you know it
Dornoch Craft Vinegar adds a splash of brightness to any dish while bringing you the best in quality and flavour Scotland has to offer.
By ageing our vinegar in whisky barrels we are bringing totally new flavours to the condiment scene
keep
updated
WHY VINEGAR?
Underrated and underused in kitchens, acid is one of the best ways to get brightness into your dishes. It’s also unpasteurised and alive, bringing beneficia bacteria, vitamins and minerals to your diet.
CORE MALT VINEGAR
Made from organic and heritage grains, fermented and aged with the same patience and care found in whisky production. Bright, balanced acidity with real depth — designed to live permanently on the table, not just in the cupboard.
This is the vinegar we stand behind every day.
BARREL RESERVE
Selected casks are left to mature beyond the standard ageing period, developing deeper oak character and a softer, rounder acidity. Bottled in small batches when the flavour is ready — not when the calendar says so.
For finishing dishes, dressing simply cooked vegetables, or anywhere the vinegar should be noticed.
COLLABORATION
We supply the same malt vinegar in larger formats for restaurants, shops and food producers. Consistent, reliable and made to be used generously — because good vinegar shouldn’t need to be rationed.
Crafted once. Used everywhere.
WHAT IS DORNOCH
About an hour north of Inverness in the Highlands of Scotland there is a historical village on the coast called Dornoch. Meaning “pebbly beach” in Gaelic, Dornoch is a charming town with it’s own cathedral, castle, links golf course and active community.
Why Dornoch Craft Vinegar? Because Dornoch is building a reputation as a destination for high-value, sustainable food innovation.
Dornoch is also home to one of the smallest whisky distilleries in Scotland, Dornoch Distillery and the Thompson Brothers, independent bottlers. Dornoch Craft Vinegar works in tandem with the Brothers, using their facilities and expertise to make the malt wash that is fermented into malt vinegar, and ageing the vinegar in the ex whisky casks they no longer need.
This lends our vinegar a truly unique flavour profile, marrying whisky and vinegar in a beautiful harmony.
WHO IS MADDY
From art and illustration, running market gardens and crofts, to designing and building her own cabin, there isn’t much that Maddy Norval hasn’t turned her hand to.
This latest venture encompasses it all by taking all her experience in fermentation, agroecology and gastronomy and creating a masterpiece in acidity.
HOW IS THE VINEGAR MADE
Embracing tradition and innovation, Dornoch Craft Vinegar is made in a two stage fermentation process.
Where most vinegar companies take a distilled white vinegar or apple cider vinegar and infuse it, we make our ingredients from scratch.
This means making an alcohol first and then fermenting that into a vinegar.
The better the booze, the better the vinegar!
MASH
We take heritage and organic barley and mash it, just like they do when making whisky, to extract the sugars from the barley. The sugars are the food for the yeast, which they convert to alcohol
ALCOHOL
When the alcohol level reaches 6% ABV it is moved to a different tank and run through a highly oxygenated culture medium inoculated with bacteria that eat alcohol and convert it into acetic acid.
ACID
The bacteria are left for a few weeks to convert all the alcohol to acid and the liquid after this is living vinegar, full of vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, esthers and live bacteria, all of which are highly beneficial to your gut
AGE
We then put the finished vinegar into whisky casks to age. The casks impart unique flavours, the time allows everything to mingle together and the acidity mellows out and become lest sharp.
WHERE CAN I GET IT
Dornoch Craft Vinegar is a start up company in pre-seed stage, click below to register your interest…