Beinn An Tuirc is the highest hill on the Kintyre peninsula and our distillery’s namesake. It translates from Gaelic as, 'The Hill of the Wild Boar' which explains our characterful logo!
Ancient stories tell of a ferocious boar that once terrorised the mountain which also aligns nicely with an old Kintyre legend of battle between the legendary Celtic hero, Fingal and a terrifying beast.
As the story goes, there lived on the hill a wild boar of enormous size and strength. The savage boar was feared by most, as he hunted the mountain for prey killing every man and beast in his path.
Fingal, jealous of the mighty hunter Diarmid—who had once run off with Fingal’s wife—sent him to hunt a giant boar, hoping he would die.
Diarmid found the boar and speared it, but his weapon broke. When the enraged beast charged, it accidentally stuck its tusk into a tree, allowing Diarmid to kill it with his sword and drag it back to camp.
Furious that Diarmid survived, Fingal poisoned the boar's bristles and tricked Diarmid into measuring the beast barefoot. The poison killed Diarmid, and he was buried in a circle of stones near the mountain's summit.
So there you have it, the legend of the great wild boar that came to inspire our humble logo and with any luck his tenacious spirit will live on in our spirits.
You can climb to the summit of Beinn an Tuirc from our distillery - there are excellent directions here - https://www.heatheryheights.co.uk/post/heathers-treks-beinn-an-tuirc