Linkwood

A true Speyside distillery that combines the smell of fresh grass, apple and peach blossom.

About

A favourite by blenders for its freshness that stays thick while being delicate. These prized attributes are a result of clear worts, extended fermentation and distilllation.

History of Linkwood whisky distillery

Linkwood located in Elgin, in the Speyside region of Scotland was built in 1821 by Peter Brown. Mr Brown was an ingenious farmer who wanted to make his land more productive. His idea was barley grown on his land could be distilled to make whisky, the used up husks of the barley fed the cattle, and the cattle fertilized the land; now thats what we call a whisky based ecosystem!

Production started in 1825 with two stills giving a capacity of 4,500 litres per year. The distillery was operated by James Walker until Browns death in 1868, when it was then taken over by his son William Brown.

Between 1872 and 1873 William Brown designed and built a new distillery with help of architect Methven, replacing the old one on the same location. The new distillery had a capacity of 227,000 liters per year. After William Browns death, the Linkwood-Glenlivet company was created by Browns family in 1898 and brought to the stock exchange. The distillery was then further extended to a capacity of 454,000 liters per year.

In 1902 Innes Cameron joined the Linkwood-Glenlivet company and became managing director of the Linkwood distillery until 1932. By that time he was the largest shareholder of the company. The company was sold to Scottish Malt Distillers, which itself was bought by United Distillers.

After temporary closure between 1941 and 1945 as a result of barley shortage during World War II, the distillery reopened in 1945 under Roderick Mackenzie, who led the distillery until 1963. Mackenzie believed that all things in the distillery contributed to the final product. In 1962, Scottish Malt Distillers decided the distillery needed to be completely refurbished. Mackenzie oversaw the rebuilding of the distillery in his last year as general manager. The distillery was electrified, replacing the steam engine and water wheel that powered the distillery before, and all stills were replaced with exact replicas of the former stills.

In 1971 a second distillery was built alongside the first, which became known as Linkwood B, with steam heated stills. The stills of the first distillery were converted to being heated by steam as well. With the build of Linkwood B the two distilleries reached their current combined capacity of 2.5 million liters per year.

The distillery was mothballed between 1985 and 1990, and is currently owned and run by Diageo.

Speyside Region

Although, Speyside was not accepted as an official whisky region it is now generally approved as a subdivision of the Highlands Region. Over half of all Scotland's distilleries are located in here which makes it the most densely populated whisky region in the world. Many of the most popular single malts are produced in Speyside also the malts here are typically said to be the sweetest of all scotch whisky malts. Their whiskies are known for being frugal with peat and full of fruit. Pear, apple, vanilla, honey and spice all have a part a role in expressions from this region, which are commonly matured in sherry casks.

Whisky from Linkwood

As one of one Diageo's work horses, much of the whisky distilled at Linkwood is not typically bottled under its own branded.  We have had the pleasure of securing some single cask Linkwoods, and have taken pleasure in bottling these as unique single malts.

Linkwood distillery character is fine, smooth, medium bodied and complex, with typical Speyside fruit and flowery notes and just a hint of smoke.

Buy a cask of Linkwood whisky

The Single Cask has some great Linkwood casks in our warehouses.  If you're interested in buying a cask of Linkwood, please contact us today for a free, no obligation quote.  We can also offer a range of bottling services, making the whole process of creating your very own whisky easy.

Sell a cask of Linkwood whisky

The Single Cask has a great history of buying and bottling single cask Linkwood whisky.  Often we buy our casks direct from the distillery, but we are also pleased to buy Linkwood casks from private individuals.  If you have a Linkwood cask that you're looking to sell, please contact us today for a free, no obligation, quote on how much we could pay you for your cask.