Craigellachie Distillery is in the heart of the Speyside region just outside the tiny hamlet of Craigellachie. Anyone who’s driven through the area has surely passed the famously open windows of the Craigellachie still house and taken note of the four shiny copper stills, as well as the red lettering of John Dewar & Sons at the top of the building.

Like many of the Speyside distilleries, Craigellachie can trace its roots to the Victorian era whisky boom. Its location was chosen by founders Peter Mackie and Alexander Edward, both from prominent whisky families of the time, for its proximity to the Strathspey Railroad. This made receiving ingredients on site and shipping the final products easier and much more economical. Plans for the distillery were laid out by famed architect Charles Doig with construction commencing in 1891 and production kicking off several years later. Business continued to boom, and the famed Craigellachie Hotel was built in 1893 to support the whisky boom and travel to the area via the railway. At the turn of the century, however, the whisky boom was over, and times were tough for many distilleries.

As shrewd businessmen, Mackie and Edward kept Craigellachie operational, despite many other distilleries shuttering. In 1915, Mackie purchased Edward’s share in Craigellachie and formed White Horse Distillers. Several more ownership changes occurred over the years, most recently with the sale of Craigellachie and the other United Distillers’ brands to Bacardi 1998.  Throughout it all, Craigellachie’s character has remained the same and its malt remains fruity and waxy. Production at Craigellachie is still traditional by many means, including the still used wooden washbacks worm tubs.

Sadly, there is no visitor center at Craigellachie but Aberfeldy Distillery, also owned by Bacardi, is open to the public and a fantastic place to learn about the brand’s portfolio of outstanding scotch whiskies and of course sample the Craigellachie single malt. While Craigellachie does release single malts of various age statements, independent bottlers offer an alternative to discover the fruity malt of Craigellachie in casks and age statements outside of the distillery’s core range.