The BenRiach distillery is a

single malt Scotch whisky Single malt Scotch refers to single malt whisky made in Scotland. To qualify for this category, a whisky must have been distilled at a single distillery using a pot still distillation process and made from a mash of malted barley. Therefore, a s ...

distillery in the

Speyside Speyside can refer to: * Speyside, Ontario, a settlement in Ontario * Strathspey, Scotland, the famous whisky producing region by the River Spey ** Speyside single malts, the type of whisky produced in Strathspey * Speyside, Trinidad and Tobago ...

area of Scotland. It is currently owned by Brown-Forman Corporation.

History

The BenRiach Distillery was established by John Duff in 1898, in North Speyside, south of Elgin, close to the

Longmorn Longmorn ( gd, Lann M'Eàrnain, St Earnain's Church) is a village in Moray, Scotland, famous for its malt whisky distilleries. It lies approximately south of Elgin, Moray, Elgin, on the main road from Elgin to Rothes. This village was once a ...

Distillery which was also owned by Duff. The distilleries were joined by a private railway, with a private steam locomotive, the ''Puggy'', to transport coal, barley, peat and barrels between the distilleries. Soon after the railway was established in 1900 the distillery stopped production in the wake of the bankruptcy of

Pattison's whisky Pattisons Whisky was a blended Scotch whisky produced by Pattisons Ltd. from 1896 until its bankruptcy in 1898. It is known for its role in the booming scotch whisky market of the late 19th century, and its instrumental role in the market's subs ...

, a major Scotch Whisky purchaser. Only BenRiachs maltings remained in active use, producing malt for Longmorn. It didn't produce spirit again until 1965 when it was reopened by Glenlivet Distillers Ltd. In 1978 the distillery changed hands, this time to

Seagrams The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was once (in the 1990s) the lar ...

. Seagrams became part of Pernod Ricard in 2001 and the BenRiach distillery began operating for just three months of every year. In 2004 the distillery was acquired by an independent consortium, the BenRiach Distillery Company Limited, formed by two South African funding partners, Geoff Bell and Wayne Keiswetter, and Scotch whisky expert Billy Walker. In 2008, the company expanded their portfolio with the acquisition of the

Glendronach distillery Glendronach distillery is a Scottish Scotch whisky, whisky distillery located near Forgue, by Huntly, Aberdeenshire, in the Highland Single Malts#Regions, Highland whisky district. It was owned by the BenRiach Distillery Company Ltd. The name Gl ...

. as well as the

Glenglassaugh distillery Glenglassaugh distillery is a malt scotch whisky distillery which restarted production in November 2008 after being acquired by an independent investment group. Following a complete refurbishment by the new owners the distillery was re-opened ...

in March 2013. The distillery was sold off as a subsidiary on 1 June 2016 to Brown–Forman.

Awards

*Global Whisky Distiller of the Year, World Whiskies Awards 2015 *Distillery of the Year, Malt Advocate Whisky Awards 2007 *Best Rare Speyside (BenRiach Authenticus 21 Year Old), World Whisky Awards, Whisky Magazine 2007 *Gold Medal (BenRiach 16 year old), International Wines and Spirits Competition 2006 *Silver Medals (BenRiach Heart of Speyside, 12 year old, Curiositas and Authenticus), International Wines and Spirits Competition 2006 *Best Performing Small Business Award, under 25 employees, Enterprising Scotland Awards 2006 *Best International Business Award, Enterprising Scotland Awards 2005

References

External links

BenRiach Distillery
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