Aultmore distillery is a whisky distillery in

Keith, Banffshire Keith (Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile Chèith'', or ''Cèith Mhaol Rubha'' (archaic)) is a small town in the Moray council area in north east Scotland. It has a population of 4,734. Keith is historically in Banffshire, a name which persists in com ...

, producing an eponymous

single malt whisky Single malt whisky is malt whisky from a single distillery. Single malts are typically associated with single malt Scotch, though they are also produced in various other countries. Under the United Kingdom's Scotch Whisky Regulations, a "S ...

. Its name is a derived from the phrase ''An t-Allt Mòr'',

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

for big burn, referring to its water source the Auchinderran burn. It was founded in 1895 by Alexander Edward, then owner of the Benrinnes distillery. The distillery was originally powered by a

waterwheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...

, and was soon adapted to use a steam engine instead, which ran day and night for 70 years, apart from maintenance. During maintenance hours power was provided by the mainly retired waterwheel. The steam engine is now on display at the distillery site. The distillery was expanded in 1898, and production doubled. In 1899 the distillery was owned by Pattisons which went bankrupt in that year. Production plummeted, and the distillery closed. Aultmore reopened around 1904, and closed again during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

due to barley shortages It reopened again after World War I ended, and was bought by John Dewar and sons in 1923. Shortly thereafter, in 1925, it was bought by Distiller Company. It changed hands again in 1930, when it was bought by Scottish Malt Distillers. The distillery was in the 1950s one of the first to use the draff, a wasteproduct of whisky production, as animal feed. The distillery's

malting floor Malting is the process of steeping, germinating and drying grain to convert it into malt. The malt is mainly used for brewing or whisky making, but can also be used to make malt vinegar or malt extract. Various grains are used for malting, mo ...

s closed in 1968 and the entire distillery was rebuilt and expanded in 1970. A new

spirit still Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

and

wash still WASH (or Watsan, WaSH) is an acronym that stands for "water, sanitation and hygiene". It is used widely by non-governmental organizations and aid agencies in developing countries. The purposes of providing access to WASH services include achievin ...

were placed in addition to the two stills that were already present, and Aultmore Reopened in 1971. In 1998 the distillery was sold back to Bacardi subsidiary Dewars, which had previously owned Aultmore between 1923 and 1925. Aultmore produced their first official bottling, a 12-year-old, in 2004, after an earlier

flora and fauna In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and fungi; ...

release, and an earlier rare malts release.

References

{{Authority control Distilleries in Scotland