Strathmill distillery is one of three distilleries within the

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

town of

Keith Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

at the heart of "Malt Whisky Country". Unlike Keith's other two distilleries of

Strathisla The River Isla (Scottish Gaelic: Uisge Ìle) is a tributary of the River Deveron in North-East Scotland. The area surrounding it is known as Strathisla (not to be confused with Glenisla, which is around the River Isla in Perthshire). It ris ...

and Glen Keith, however, Strathmill is not owned by Chivas (part of the

Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard () is a French company best known for its anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis (often referred to simply as ''Pernod'' or ''Ricard''). The world’s second-largest wine and spirits seller, it also produ ...

group) but since 1997 by

Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...

who operate it for the production of blends such as J&B whisky. The site had originally been home to a corn mill, established by A. G. Johnstone as Strathisla Mills in 1823, but following a boom in the whisky industry between 1890 and 1899 it was converted into a distillery in 1891. Some of the buildings therefore date to before its whisky production days. It was during this era of high demand that some thirty other distilleries were constructed in the area. It was in 1895 when gin producers W. & A. Gilbey bought the distillery that the name was changed from Glenisla-Glenlivet to its current name of Strathmill, the name deriving from the

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 ...

word 'Strath' meaning "shallow valley" and "mill" relating to its former use. Production equipment consists of two wash stills, two spirit stills and seven warehouses on site; five traditional dunnage warehouses and two racked warehouses. It has a production capacity of 1,800,000 litres of pure alcohol per year.

References

* http://www.scotchwhisky.net/distilleries/strathmill.htm * http://www.maltmadness.com/whisky/strathmill.html * http://www.thedrinkingmansguidetoscotland.com/strathmill-distillery.html {{Scottish Distilleries Distilleries in Scotland Category A listed buildings in Moray Keith, Moray