GlenWyvis Distillery in Dingwall, which is aiming to become the first community-owned whisky producer in Scotland, has appointed a Diageo veteran as it first distillery manager.

The company, chaired by David O’Connor, has also hit a £250,000 target in its second share offer campaign.

In 2016, the company raised £2.6 million from 2,600 “members”. The new open share offer, which has a final £750,000 target, has already added a further 400 members in just two months. The share issue was launched to capitalise on continued interest from locals and visitors alike. The minimum investment is £250 for all investors, and supporters are also able pay extra to have their name added to the distillery wall or the “path to the stills”.

Announcing the appointment of Duncan Tait from Diageo’s Mortlach Distillery, Mr O’Connor said: “This is a particularly special appointment as it is the lynch-pin to the next stage of our development, as we move from construction to distilling and production.”

The distillery, which will be entirely powered by green energy, is on schedule to start production next month.

Mr O’Connor added: “Coincidentally, as we appoint Duncan, we are also seeing a continued surge of active share offer investors and this has pushed our target over the quarter million pound mark this week, showing we still have a popular ongoing investor proposition.”