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Founded in 1826 on the western edge of Aberlour town on Speyside. The distillery is sheltered in the narrow wooded valley of
the Burn of Aberlour on the northern edge of Ben Rinnes which accumulates snow and rain water across its moors and creates long cooling shadows for the distillery. Rich amber, smooth and creamy, some peat, a burst of chocolate, sweet fruit notes and
oak spices are to be detected within the range.
The Distillery was founded in 1852 by William Mackenzie. When he died in 1865 his widow leased the distillery to James Fleming,
a banker from Aberlour. Together with William Mackenzie's son he founded Mackenzie and Company. Today very little of this whisky is released as single malt - most of the spirit is used for blending, in particular the popular Dewars blends.
Historic Scotland maintains this mothballed, Highland distillery as a museum which allows visitors to inspect the inner workings, to the very guts, of a distillery but without the noises, heat or smells. Rather an eerie sense to the place and a tad naked without its own stock in its own warehouses, but at least it is still standing, stills intact. Founded 1898, closed 1983. The last distillation took place in the spring of 1983, therefore, stock is ageing and dwindling and one day all will be gone.
A Speyside distillery on the edge of Dufftown, Banffshire. Founded 1886, the first to popularise single malt in the 1960s, and then the first to open a visitor centre and then to offer tours around the distillery in 1969. Remains an independent, family owned business. Its close neighbours Balvenie and Kininvie Distilleries are its stable mates. With 28 stills it is the largest malt distillery in Scotland, indeed it has more stills than any other distillery in the whole world. A medium weight straight forward style of malt whisky.
Founded in 1892 by John Birnie & James McKinley with production beginning in 1894, Glen Mhor distillery was closed in 1983 and today a supermarket sits on the former site. Glen Mhor is Gaelic for Great Glen. Widely tipped to follow in the footsteps of the enthusiasts whiskies such as Port Ellen as this 'lost' distillery becomes ever more collectable.
A magnificent setting in the valley of the mighty River Spey, in sun light or in moon light or covered in snow. The distillery was established on Easter Elchies Estate in 1824. A busy place now, with 15 stills. The restored Easter Elchies House built in 1700
and its surrounding woodlands are testament to its enduring rich, complex and magical whisky.
Founded 1971 in Speyside, alongside Glenlossie which dates from 1876, so bit of a young thing really. Even in such a short
career it has been mothballed twice, most recently reopened in 1997. Tends to be a light whisky, although its Loch Dhu is so dark
in colour it is the black whisky. The dark colour was created by maturation in heavily charred oak casks.
The Location
The valley of the River Spey and its tributaries, prestigious Speyside. But, with added value comes a desire to be a part. And so Speyside is a variable concept, sometimes with extraordinarily wide boundaries. And yet, in whisky terms, it’s really a place in an imaginary space. Most of its length officially residing within the Highlands since differential taxation commenced in the eighteenth century. Origins in the heart of the Highlands, in the mighty and majestically snow clad Monadhliath and Cairngorm Mountains, ending at Spey Bay, into the North Sea. A powerhouse for energy and waste disposal. The area, with peat and water and barley all in abundance and yet, a late developer. An inland area without a canal, without piers and their sailing boats, without powered connections. Without powered connections indeed, but when the tracks arrived it was an end to all that, and there was no looking back.
A Smooth Line
The Speyside Railway; relatively independent of the elements, of the gales and of the seasons and of the tides. Freed from the limited capacity of four legged oxen, four legged horses or two legged humans, to turn the wheels. From Rothes to Perth it went in, like a warm knife through ice-cream creating a smooth space in which to rest the cherries and the chocolate and the soft fruits. It created a sheltered place in which to rest your gleaming new distillery with its own little shunting line and puffer to carry your sherry casks right up to your door, and then right back out again and deep into the heart Perth, or on to Glasgow or Edinburgh or the whole world beyond. Speyside was created, just like that. The chimneys sprouted along the valley’s floor, in-by the river, up amongst the Pines and the Oak and the Birch and into the canopy. Some steam and some reek the giveaway from time to time. And so as in Campbeltown they squeezed in. In-by, but out-by if necessary; out-by on the slopes where it only needed a little more line to get connected to Speyside. Many lost and many found since then, in almost a century and a half. The rails have gone but the chimneys and the steam and the reek still rest on that smooth line.
Its Personal
In-by and out-by. In-by road and out-by road now. And further and faster in a day or in an hour. Australia, Japan, and China, and the moon soon. And with railways came the holidays and the holidaymakers and the trippers, the market no longer just in-by locals and out-by capitals and foreign market places. With in-by visitors developed in-by visitor centres, with distillery tours and tasting and shops. Now you can come in-by from around the globe, buy-in for yourself, see for yourself what lies within, you are in for a big surprise. Reek and oaky spices and bursts of chocolate and dried fruits in that smooth whisky from that smooth place, in-by the River Spey, in Speyside, in-by those Highlands.