The Highland Fisherman Who Refuses to Retire from Smoking Salmon

Not far from the harbour in Ullapool, a small team is dry-curing salmon in sea salt and brown sugar, exactly as they have done for two decades. The business belongs to Iain Boyd, a lifelong Highland fisherman who spent years lobster fishing, scallop diving and mussel farming before he ever built a smoker of his own, or started Ullapool Smokehouse.

From lobster boats to smoke

Iain's route into smoking was anything but direct. Fishing and diving came first, and later a spell in the oil industry, but throughout it all he kept experimenting with smoking fish in his spare time. It took years of quiet refinement before he judged the method good enough to build a business on, and Ullapool Smokehouse opened its doors around 2004 in the far North West Highlands.

The 12-hour cure

The signature product has barely changed since. Whole sides of salmon are dry-cured in sea salt and brown sugar, then cold-smoked for 12 hours over oak shavings taken from spent whisky barrels, in a brick kiln built for exactly this job. A final malt whisky cure finishes things off, giving the salmon its distinctive balance of gentle smoke and warm, whisky-sweet depth. The fish itself comes exclusively from Wester Ross Salmon and Loch Duart, two Highland farms known for low-impact, hand-fed methods that produce noticeably better-tasting fish.

Building out the range

Around that core salmon, the range has grown steadily: Heather Honey and Lime Chilli & Honey hot-smoked salmon, BBQ Cured salmon, and Heather Honey and Bloody Mary smoked trout sit alongside smoked cheeses, pork and wild venison salami and chorizo, and a small selection of gourmet honey, garlic and sauces. Curated packs make it easy to try a spread of everything in one go.

A philosophy that hasn't changed

Iain still turns up most days, training a small team to carry the business forward — proof that a good method, once it's right, doesn't need reinventing. The smokehouse sums up its approach in one line: nothing forced, nothing compromised, nothing rushed. It's a rare thing in an industry that increasingly rewards speed over patience.

How to enjoy it

The whisky-cured salmon needs little more than good bread, a squeeze of lemon and perhaps a sliver of the smoked cheddar alongside. The hot-smoked varieties flake beautifully into salads and light suppers, while the charcuterie is built for slow grazing.

From a fisherman's spare-time experiment to one of Scotland's last true independent smokehouses, Ullapool Smokehouse has built its reputation the slow way. Shop the full range online at Farmfetch for easy UK delivery.