Ben Wyvis distillery was a producer of

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 ...

that operated between 1965 and 1977.

History

The first distillery to use the name "Ben Wyvis" operated between 1879 and 1926 in

Dingwall Dingwall ( sco, Dingwal, gd, Inbhir Pheofharain ) is a town and a royal burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It has a population of 5,491. It was an east-coast harbour that now lies inland. Dingwall Castle was once the biggest cast ...

(just south along what is now the A862 road). It was founded by D. G. Ross, but was then sold to Scotch Whisky Distillers in 1887. When Scotch Whisky Distillers was liquidated, the Ben Wyvis distillery was sold to the Ferintosh Distillery Co. Ltd., which was owned by Kirker, Greer & Co. in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. The name was then changed to "Ferintosh". As of 2010, no whisky from this distillery is known to exist. A residential development on the original site is "Wyvis House". The Ben Wyvis distillery that began operation in 1965 was started by the Invergordon distillery, and was built on the Invergordon grain distillery complex. It was intended primarily to produce whisky for use in Invergordon blends, but did produce a very small number of single malts. When Ben Wyvis was demolished in 1977, the stills were saved and eventually used by the Glengyle distillery.

Single malts

Legitimate single malt bottlings from the distillery's 1965-1977 operation are exceptionally rare. Years after the distillery had closed, Invergordon offered a single malt under the "Ben Wyvis" name, but for a retail price approximately £20. This led to at least one incident where such a bottle was placed in an auction with estimates meant to imply that it was an original Ben Wyvis single malt: on 28 March 2007, McTear's Auctioneers offered Lot 166 (a 10-year-old Ben Wyvis) with an estimated value of £400-£600, and the auction closed with a sale price of £360. After significant public-relations pressure developed over the possible misrepresentation of the whisky, McTear's offered to cancel the sale.

References

External links

Malt Madness

{{Scottish Distilleries 1965 establishments in Scotland 1977 disestablishments in Scotland Scottish malt whisky Distilleries in Scotland Invergordon British companies disestablished in 1977 British companies established in 1965