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Craigellachie distillery

Craigellachie Whisky

In the middle of the beautiful Speyside, at the intersection of three whisky streets, between Dufftown, Aberlour and Rothes you will find the Craigellachie whisky distillery. Craigellachie, pronounced like ‘kreg-elláchie’ which means ‘rocky hill’. Craigellachie Single Malt Whisky is sweet and malty, it likes to show nutty as well as fruity notes and sometimes light smoke.

House Style

What does Craigellachie’s single malt taste like?Craigellachie Single Malt Whisky is sweet and malty, he likes to show nutty notes, as well as fruity and sometimes light smoke.

Recommendations

With the Craigellachie 13 years and the Craigellachie 17 years, two old-school single malts have been brought onto the market. If you are interested in this exciting distillery, you should also look out for bottlings from the independant bottlers, Signatory or Gordon and MacPhail.

Manufacturing

How is Craigellachie whisky produced?Craigellachie produces in four stills - two spirit and two wash stills. The mash tun is made of stainless steel and there are eight fermentation tanks, each with a capacity of 45,000 liters. The water for the Craigellachie Whisky comes from the Blue Hill. The malt is obtained from central malting plants. Most of the production is blended for blended Scotch whisky, for example the White Horse.

History

Craigellachie was founded in 1891 by the Craigellachie-Glenlivet Distillery Company in the late 19th century. The construction of the distillery dragged on for a few years, so that the first alcohol was not distilled until 1898. In the middle of World War I, in 1916, Mackell & Company Distillers Ltd. took over Craigellachies. The new owners were taken over by Distillers Compant Limited (DCL) in 1927 and in 1930 the distillery was transered to their malt arm Scottish Malt Distillers (SMD).

Around 30 years later - in 1964 - the distillery underwent extensive renovation and expansion, in which one also upgraded from two to four stills. In 1987 Craigellachie went to UDV, which held the distillery until 1998. The period under Diageo was not a good time for Craigellachie, the distillery received little attention. Fortunately, the tide has turned under the new owner Dewar & Sons.

Craigellachie factsheet

Name Pronounced AKA Region Country of Origin
Craigellachie craig*ell*ack*ee Speyside Scotland
Status Active Whisky Type Website Tours Available
Active 1891 - Present Malt Craigellachie Tour Link
Manager Distiller Blender Owned by Parent Group
Unknown Dewar & Sons

Craigellachie Timeline:

1891: Built by the Craigellachie Distillery Co. Ltd., a partnership of blenders and merchants led by Alexander Edward. The other story is that the distillery was established by Peter Mackie. After he inherited Lagavulin Distillery, he formed a partnership with Alexander Edward (1888 & 1898 mentioned as well)

1893: Incorporated as a limited company

1896: Reconstructed as the Craigellachie-Glenlivet Distillery Ltd.

1916: Craigellachie-Glenlivet Distillery Ltd. acquired by Mackie & Co. (Distillers) Ltd., owners of the White Horse Brand, who had had a share from the start

1927: Acquired by the Distillers Company Ltd. (DCL)

1930: Transferred to Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd. (SMD)

1964-65: Rebuilt when extended from two to four stills, which all became steamheated. Licensed to White Horse Distillers Ltd., Glasgow

1998: Sold to John Dewar’s & Sons Ltd. (owned by Bacardi Ltd.) after the merge of United Distillers (UD) with International Distillers and Vintners (IDV)

1999: Owned by John Dewar’s & Sons Ltd.

2004: Owned by John Dewar’s & Sons Ltd.

Can I tour Craigellachie?

Yes Craigellachie distillery is tourable. On Trip Advisor the distillery has been rated as excellent by 19 of 20 tours to date. This gives Craigellachie an overall rating of 5.0

Latest reviews

Whisky Tour With Friends by Dave P

Whisky tour with 5 friends based at Speyside Gardens Caravan site.Martina coordinated a 2 day pick up and drop off for 4 distilleries.Minibus was ideal and driver Alan was great fun and up for a laugh brilliant service

Friendly and Efficient Service by Seonaid C

Had a staycation in the area and used Craigellachie Cars to get between restaurants and our accomodation.Martina was very friendly, polite and helpful at recommending places to see in the area. Would recommend

Wonderful Taxi Service From Martina, Who Covers the Speyside So You Can Get to Lots of Whisky Tastings Safely by Stuart S

We got a flat tire outside Glenfiddich Distillery and Martina was able to pick us up promptly and get us back to our hotel. We had a lovely chat all the way back.The next day we got a ride with her husband to GlenAllachie Distillery for a tasting, and that night when some friends needed a cab ride back home we gave them her number.Can’t recommend her services highly enough, this is one of the few can services (only?) in the area and they do a top-notch job in addition to being really nice people. No surprise that all 18 reviews here are 5 stars!

Rating Reviews
Excellent 19
Very good 1
Average 0
Poor 0
Terrible 0