Distilleries

Imperial Distillery: The Ghost Distillery Beneath Dalmunach

Most whisky drinkers have never heard of Imperial, and there is a simple reason for that: the distillery has not made a drop since 1998, and the buildings themselves were pulled down in 2013. Yet I...

Tamnavulin Distillery: From Blending Workhorse to Wine Cask Specialist

Most Speyside distilleries built in the 1960s were designed to do one thing: make clean, reliable spirit for someone else's blend. Tamnavulin was built for exactly that reason, and for the best par...

Glenburgie Distillery: The Speyside Malt Ballantine's Won't Let Go

Ask most whisky drinkers what Glenburgie tastes like and you will get a blank look. Ask them if they have ever drunk it, and the honest answer for the vast majority is yes, almost certainly, they j...

Braeval Distillery: The Highest, Quietest Whisky Maker in Speyside

A distillery built to disappear into blends Braeval sits about as far into Speyside's back country as a distillery can get, tucked into the Braes of Glenlivet above the far more famous estate that ...

Balmenach Distillery: The Speyside Malt Hidden Inside Johnnie Walker

Ask most whisky drinkers what they know about Balmenach and you will likely get a blank look. That is exactly the point. This Speyside distillery, tucked into the Cromdale Hills above the River Sp...

Allt-A-Bhainne Distillery: Speyside's Blending Workhorse With a Secret Smoky Side

The modern Speyside distillery built purely to feed Chivas Brothers blends, its surprising occasional smoky side, and the 21 year old bourbon-hogshead cask we bottled from it.

Strathisla Distillery: The Oldest Working Highland Distillery Most People Never Taste

Strathisla guide: the oldest working distillery in the Highlands, the Seagram deal that built Chivas Regal around it, why so little of it ever reaches a single malt bottle, and the cask strength 11...

Glenrothes Distillery: History, Whisky and Seven Casks We've Bottled

In 1878, a partnership building a new distillery beside the Burn of Rothes ran out of money halfway through construction, after the Glasgow Bank collapsed. The loan that saved the project came from...

Tomintoul Distillery: The Gentle Dram That Also Makes Smoke

Tomintoul spends most of the year making one of Speyside's gentlest whiskies, then once a year turns out something heavily peated called Old Ballantruan. We bottled our own single cask from this di...

Glen Keith Distillery: Chivas Brothers' Own Laboratory

Glen Keith spent decades as Chivas Brothers' own experimental distillery, then sat silent for fourteen years. We bottled one of its rare aged casks ourselves, here is the full story of Speyside's q...