Aberfeldy distillery is a single malt Scotch whisky distillery in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

History

Aberfeldy Distillery was founded by the John Dewar & Sons, Ltd. in 1896, and opened in 1898. The distillery is located on the eastern outskirts of Aberfeldy, on the southern bank of the upper Tay. The demand for barley as a basic foodstuff 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 ...

led to the distillery being closed from 1917 to 1919. The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

also caused barley supplies to be cut, and the distillery was again forced to shut down for some of this period. Supply to final markets was kept up by reducing the period whisky was laid up from 7 years to 3. In 1925, the distillery passed to

The Distillers Company The Distillers Company Limited was a leading Scottish drinks and pharmaceutical company and, at one time, a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was taken over by Guinness & Co. (now part of Diageo) in 1986 in a transaction which was later fou ...

when Dewars amalgamated with it. In 1972 the distillery was enlarged, and the old stills were replaced by four new steam heated stills. Ownership later passed to

Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to for ...

, which became Diageo in 1997. In 1999, an Aberfeldy 12 Year Old Single Malt brand was introduced. In 2000, a new distillery visitor center named "Dewar's World of Whisky" was opened at a cost of £3 million. The Earl of Elgin opened the facility, it being designed for marketing Aberfeldy products and educating the public about the process of distillation and history of the Dewar's brand. Aberfeldy is the largest malt whisky component of Dewar's Blended Whisky.

The distillery

Aberfeldy is situated in the centre of Scotland, some five miles east of

Loch Tay Loch Tay ( gd, Loch Tatha) is a freshwater loch in the central highlands of Scotland, in the Perth and Kinross and Stirling council areas. It is the largest body of fresh water in Perth and Kinross, and the sixth largest loch in Scotland. The ...

and the town of Kenmore and about eight miles south of

Loch Tummel Loch Tummel (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Teimheil) is a long, narrow loch, northwest of Pitlochry in the council area of Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is fed and drained by the River Tummel, which flows into the River Tay about south-east of th ...

. Aberfeldy relies on the fresh water stream Pitilie Burn, which runs alongside the distillery. Aberfeldy is the only distillery in Scotland to use these waters. The area contains historical landmarks, such as

Kenmore Bridge Kenmore may refer to: Places Australia * Kenmore, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland * Kenmore Asylum, a decommissioned psychiatric hospital located in Goulburn, New South Wales * Kenmore Bypass, a proposed major road in Brisbane * Ke ...

. This was built by the 3rd Earl in 1774 and the view from it was the inspiration for Robert Burns's poem on the chimney piece of the Kenmore Inn. The distillery has two wash stills with a capacity of about 16,500 liter and two spirit stills with 15,000 liters.Aberfeldy at whisky.com
/ref> With these capacities the Aberfeldy distillery lies in the middle of the range of pot still sizes.

Products

Aberfeldy 12 years old Aberfeldy 18 years old Aberfeldy 21 years old Whisky from the distillery is also independently bottled by bottlers including That Boutique-y Whisky Company, Gordon & MacPhail and WM Cadenhead.

Reviews and Accolades

International

Spirit ratings With a growing number of offerings, such as those produced by an increasing number of microdistilleries, various mechanisms have arisen to provide reviews and opinions of individual varieties of spirits. These events generally use expert panels ...

organizations and liquor review bodies generally have had divergent reactions to Aberfeldy whiskies. The

San Francisco World Spirits Competition The San Francisco World Spirits Competition was founded in 2001 by Anthony Dias Blue as an off-shoot of the San Francisco International Wine Competition. It assesses hundreds of entrants annually (1,407 in 2013 from 63 countries) with tastings inv ...

has awarded the Aberfeldy 12- and 21-year whiskies a series of impressive medals, with the 12-year winning three golds and three silvers between 2007 and 2012 and the 21-year winning three golds, a double gold, and two bronze medals over the same time frame. By contrast, ''

Wine Enthusiast Magazine ''Wine Enthusiast'' magazine is an American wine magazine published by Wine Enthusiast Companies in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1979 by Adam and Sybil Strum, Wine Enthusiast Companies engages in the wine accessories, storage, information, educat ...

'' rated both offerings in its 85-89 range, a relatively modest score, in 2008.

References

External links

Aberfeldy HomepageVirtual Tour of the Aberfeldy DistilleryDewar's Homepage
{{coord, 56, 37, 28, N, 3, 50, 59, W, dim:50_scale:500_region:GB-ELN_type:landmark, display=title Distilleries in Scotland 1896 establishments in Scotland Buildings and structures in Perth and Kinross Economy of Perth and Kinross Industrial buildings completed in 1896 Bacardi Scottish malt whisky Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross Microdistilleries