Millburn Distillery: Inverness's Lost Distillery Is Now a Hotel Car Park

Millburn has one of the more deflating afterlives of any lost Scottish distillery. Where sites like Port Ellen or Brora at least sit silent and intact, Millburn's buildings were mostly demolished in 1988, and the site is now occupied by a Premier Inn, a quietly unglamorous ending for a distillery that traded, under various names, for close to two centuries.

Millburn at a glance

History of Millburn

Mr Welsh founded the distillery in 1807 as the Inverness Distillery, sixteen years before the Excise Act 1823 legalised whisky distillation outright. James Rose and Alexander MacDonald took control in 1825 and sold it four years later. David Rose acquired it in 1853, and his son George Rose took over in 1881. Andrew Haig & Co. bought the distillery in 1892 and renamed it Millburn in 1904. A fire damaged the buildings in 1922, but the owners rebuilt and kept production going.

Booth's Distillers bought Millburn in 1921, and the Distillers Company Ltd gained control through the 1935 merger of Booth's and Sanderson, moving the distillery under its Scottish Malt Distillers arm in 1943. DCL finally closed Millburn in 1985, and in 1988 most of its buildings were demolished to make way for redevelopment. Whitbread opened a Beefeater restaurant called "The Auld Distillery" in one of the surviving buildings in 1989, with a Travel Inn hotel added soon after. The restaurant is gone now, but the site remains a Premier Inn.

Millburn and independent bottlers

Because Millburn closed nearly four decades ago, independently bottled stock is scarce and generally old, the kind of release that turns up occasionally from specialist retailers and auctions rather than something readily available on demand.

Millburn and The Single Cask

We don't currently hold a Millburn cask, and given how long ago the distillery closed, genuine Millburn stock of any kind is rare industry-wide. If a comparable Highland character is what you're after, get in touch and we'll tell you what we hold right now.

Plan a bottling inspired by Millburn

Millburn's story, a distillery that outlived two world wars and a fire only to end up as a hotel car park, is a blunt reminder of how little can remain of even a long-running distillery once production stops for good. If a piece of whisky history with that kind of weight interests you for your own bottling, 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 more on the Highland region, see our guides to Dalmore and Teaninich.

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 we're usually able to point you toward something close in style from what we do have.

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

Frequently asked questions

When did Millburn distillery close?

1985. DCL closed it, and most of its buildings were demolished in 1988.

What is on the Millburn distillery site now?

A Premier Inn. One surviving building briefly housed a Beefeater restaurant called "The Auld Distillery" from 1989.

Did Millburn ever have another name?

Yes, it was founded in 1807 as the Inverness Distillery and renamed Millburn in 1904.

Did a fire ever damage Millburn?

Yes, in 1922. The owners rebuilt and continued production.

Who owned Millburn before it closed?

The Distillers Company Ltd, through its Scottish Malt Distillers arm, from 1943 until closure in 1985.

Does The Single Cask sell a Millburn cask?

Not at the moment. Genuine Millburn stock is rare industry-wide. Contact us for comparable Highland stock.