As one of Scotland's experimental 'craft' new wave distilleries, Twin Rivers originated from Deeside Brewery, established in Banchory in 2012 by former IT entrepreneur and pub owner Michael Bain. In 2012, the brewery added innovative distillation equipment, combining traditional Scottish distillation practices with modern American technology to produce a range of whiskies, gins, and other spirits. In 2017, the distillery used long-fermentation yeast to conduct secondary distillation in two cubic iStills (intelligent stills) to produce its first batch of malt spirit (iStills are US-designed, Dutch-made; the 'i' obviously stands for 'intelligent'): This is a uniquely shaped stainless steel pot still connected to a very long column neck, containing copper catalyst cakes to eliminate sulfide flavors. The manufacturer claims on the distillery's homepage to be the world's only fully automated and robotic distillery. It helps manual distillers achieve the correct flavor through automated fraction management. 'Our innovation helps create better, more consistent products at lower cost, and the heads and tails losses are among the lowest in the industry...' 'iStill can saccharify, ferment, and distill any product. One machine can do it all, minimizing pumping and cleaning issues, eliminating production bottlenecks. You can now make whiskey, brandy, rum, gin, and vodka on the same machine.' Twin Rivers' first batch of new-make spirit was filled into 55-liter octave casks for rapid maturation. The distillery plans to release its first single malt whiskey in July 2020. Meanwhile, the distillery plans to launch small batch cask sales, along with single malt whiskey, and also plans to produce a vintage rye spirit, aged in 200-liter American rye whiskey barrels with added toasted wood chips (accelerated maturation) – if conditions permit! Although the expanded limited space can accommodate a certain volume of configuration, Twin Rivers plans to build a larger distillery on 2.2 acres of land in Banchory, including a visitor center, restaurant, and bar. For project funding, Twin Rivers is seeking to raise £1.4 million through cask pre-sales and crowdfunding projects.