Phil Thompson started his whisky journey in the early 2000s while working in the family hotel, Dornoch Castle. Along with his brother, Simon, after several years of building Dornoch Castle as of the world's top whisky bars, the brothers went on to found Dornoch Distillery in 2015.

The brothers focused on creating flavour-forward spirits with a nod to 'old-style' whisky production methods. Since then they have become accidental independent bottlers & blenders and are now in the process of planning a distillery expansion which will focus on energy efficiency while maintaining the Thompson Brothers' current production philosophy.