Original Wolfburn distillery was founded just to the west of the town of Thurso, Caithness in 1821by William Smith.The distillery was of considerable size for its day and ran as a successful commercial enterprise for several decades, being handed down through several generations of the Smith family. It is thought to have ceased production during the 1850s, although the exact date is a matter of debate. The distillery appears on the first Ordnance Survey map of the area, dated 1872, marked as a ruin. The reasons for its demise are unclear - very little remains of the original distillery and there are no known photographs. However, records of its annual production volumes of whisky can be found in tax returns,
In 2012 a private consortium gained approval from the Caithness planning authorities to build a new Wolfburn distillery in Henderson Park, Thurso.The new distillery is situated approximately 350 m from the site of the old one and draws its water from the Wolf Burn (stream), whence it gets its name. The inaugural whisky was launched globally in March 2016 and has gone on to win several gold medal awards in international competitions