Distilleries

Glendullan Distillery: Diageo's Biggest Secret

Glendullan produces around 3.7 million litres of spirit a year for Diageo, yet Whiskybase lists barely 300 independent bottlings of it. We bottled one ourselves, here is the full story of Scotland'...

Cragganmore Distillery: Speyside's Deliberate Outlier

Diageo picked Cragganmore to represent Speyside's whole range of character, not just its honeyed side. Flat-topped stills and old-fashioned worm tubs give it a savoury, meaty style unlike its neigh...

Tormore Distillery: Speyside's Extravagant Comeback

Tormore looks like nowhere else in Speyside, and spent sixty years as an anonymous blending malt despite it. We look at its extravagant design, its 2022 sale to Elixir Distillers, our own cask note...

Aberlour Distillery: History, Casks & Whisky

Aberlour is one of Speyside's most sherry-driven distilleries, and one of the least visible by name. We look at its history, its sherry cask policy, the two independent casks we've bottled ourselve...

Macduff Distillery: The Blend's Best-Kept Secret on the Moray Coast

Macduff makes millions of litres a year for William Lawson's blend and barely sells any of it under its own name. Here is the full story, how the whisky is made on its unusual five stills, and hone...

Glen Moray Distillery: The Wine Cask Pioneer on Elgin's Gallows Hill

Glen Moray guide: the Elgin brewery that became Speyside's great experimenter — gallows-hill history, Chardonnay-cask pioneering, La Martiniquaise's expansion, what it tastes like, our own cask-str...

Tobermory Distillery: One Island, Two Whiskies

One distillery, two whiskies: unpeated Tobermory and heavily peated Ledaig, made on Mull's colourful harbour front since 1798. Our guide covers the history, the S-shaped stills, what both malts tas...

Glenlossie Distillery: The Top-Class Malt Almost Nobody Bottles

In 1974 the blending industry ranked just a dozen Scottish malts as top class, and Glenlossie was one of them. Here is the full story of the quiet Speyside workhorse behind Haig, and the family of ...

Mortlach Distillery: Speyside's Beast of Dufftown

Six mismatched stills, worm tub condensers and a nickname it never tried to shake off: Mortlach is Speyside's meatiest whisky, and one of the region's longest-standing favourites among independent ...

Glengoyne Distillery: The Unpeated Malt on the Highland Line

Half an hour from Glasgow, Glengoyne distils its whisky in the Highlands and matures it across the road in the Lowlands, with no peat, ever. Here is the full story: the illicit glen, the slowest st...