Kininvie Distillery: The Third Distillery on the Balvenie Site, Built in 1990

Kininvie shares its Dufftown site with Balvenie and Glenfiddich, all three owned by William Grant & Sons. It opened in 1990 as the company's third distillery there. Its own single malt arrived late: a Hazelwood 15 year old in 2006 and the first bottle carrying the Kininvie name, a 23 year old, in 2013.

Kininvie at a glance

History of Kininvie

William Grant & Sons opened Kininvie in 1990 as a third distillery on its Dufftown site. For years the spirit went into the company's blends, and the first single malt releases appeared under the Hazelwood name. Hazelwood Centennial Reserve, a blend containing Kininvie, came in 2001, a 15 year old single malt in 2006, and a 17 year old Hazelwood Reserve for duty free in 2008.

The Kininvie name itself first appeared in 2013, on a 23 year old single malt launched in Taiwan. A 17 year old for global markets followed in 2014. The distillery is not open to the public.

How Kininvie makes its whisky

The still house holds nine stills in three sets of three, with one wash still feeding two spirit stills. The wash stills are larger than the spirit stills, which resemble those at Glenfiddich. Mashing and fermentation happen in dedicated vessels at Balvenie, using their own barley specification and a slightly longer fermentation, and the wash is then pumped across to the Kininvie still house.

In 2019 it launched Kininvie Works, an innovation arm, with three experimental releases. One was a triple distilled single malt, where Scotch malt is normally distilled twice. Another was a single grain whisky made from a mash of malted barley and malted rye, run through copper pot stills. The third blended the two with double distilled malt, all made on site.

Kininvie and independent bottlers

Most Kininvie spirit goes into William Grant & Sons blends, and the company has controlled its single malt releases closely, from Hazelwood to the 23 year old. That leaves little obvious room for independent bottlings.

Kininvie and The Single Cask

Casks from Kininvie are not something we list publicly. If a Dufftown Speyside style interests you, tell us what you are looking for and we will say honestly what we can and cannot source.

Plan a bottling inspired by Kininvie

A distillery that experiments with rye and triple distillation inside one of Speyside's best known sites gives a bottling plenty to talk about. If that appeals for your own project, start with our whisky casks available page, or read about buying a whisky cask and the four steps to bottling your own whisky. For something under your own name, our private label whisky service covers that end to end. For its Dufftown neighbours, see our guides to Glenfiddich, The Balvenie and Mortlach.

We hold a wide range of casks to sell to independent bottlers and private customers, drawn from many different distilleries, finished in a variety of wood types from sherry and port casks to bourbon and rum, with real differences in yeast and production style from one distillery to the next. If you are an independent bottler looking for stock, or you have always wanted a cask of your own, talk to us about what we currently hold in the warehouse. Where we don't hold the exact distillery featured in this guide, we say so honestly, and you are welcome to ask what we can currently source.

If you have questions about any of this, or about Kininvie in particular, our contact page is the fastest way to reach us.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Kininvie Distillery?

In Dufftown, Moray, on the same site as Balvenie and Glenfiddich.

Who owns Kininvie?

William Grant & Sons, which opened it in 1990.

How many stills does Kininvie have?

Nine: three wash stills and six spirit stills.

When was the first Kininvie single malt released?

Kininvie spirit first appeared as a single malt in 2006, as a Hazelwood 15 year old. The first release under the Kininvie name was a 23 year old in 2013.

What is Kininvie Works?

The distillery's innovation arm, launched in 2019 with three experimental whiskies: a triple distilled malt, a malted rye and barley single grain, and a blend of the two with double distilled malt.

Does The Single Cask list a Kininvie cask?

Not publicly. Contact us and we will say honestly what we can source.