Scotch whisky production
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This section of Malt Madness looks at malt
whisky distilleries in Scotland - grain whisky
is discussed as well, but not in great detail.
Until well after the year 2000, the number
of active
MALT
whisky distilleries in Scotland
was still much larger than that of the entire
rest of the world put together. So, when I
started work on this site section I didn't
look past the borders of Scotland at first.
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Aberfeldy |
*** |
1896---------Active |
Highlands (S) |
Bacardi > John Dewar & Sons |
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Balblair |
*** |
1894---------Active |
Highlands (N) |
Pacific Spirits > Inver House |
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Caol Ila |
*** |
1846---------Active |
Islay |
Diageo > UDV |
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Daftmill |
? |
2005---------Active |
Highlands (E) |
Francis & Ian Cuthbert |
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Glen Albyn
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** |
1846---------Closed (1983) |
Highlands (N) |
Diageo > DCL |
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Highland Park |
**** |
1798---------Active |
Islands (Orkney) |
1887 Company > Highland Distillers |
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Ladyburn |
** |
1966---------Closed (1970s) |
Lowlands |
W. Grant & Sons |
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Macallan |
*** |
1824---------Active |
Speyside |
1887 Company > Highland Distillers |
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Pittyvaich |
**** |
1975---------Closed (1993) |
Speyside |
Diageo > UDV |
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Talisker |
**** |
1831---------Active |
Islands (Skye) |
Diageo > UDV |
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This list contains all the (legal) malt whisky distilleries in Scotland that have
been active since +/- 1975. Hundreds of other distilleries that were active
in the 18th, 19th and 20th
century are not listed, simply because the odds
of ever finding a (genuine) bottle of the whisky are astronomically slim.
"Antique' bottles appearing at auctions and on eBay are usually dodgy.
Speaking of astronomically slim - to help the (male) readers of this page
pass the time a little more comfortable while they wait for the +/- eighty
other distillery profiles to be finished, I've included
a liquid pin-up at the
right. After reading everything on this page you deserve a little break...
OK, now you've enjoyed yourself long enough; time to bugger off to one
of the distillery profiles or another section of Malt Madness. Unless you
require some further instructions
about how to interpret the overload
of information on this page, of course. Please, allow me to clarify the
meaning of the data in the six columns of the Distillery Data Overview;
Distillery = simple, the (current, 'official') name of the distillery
Ranking = my purely personal feelings, translated into a star system
Founded
= the year the distillery is claimed to have been founded
Status = Active (in production), mothballed (restart possible) or closed
Region = the Scottish whisky region where the distillery is located
Ownership
= the parent company or individual owning the distillery
I feel that two of these criteria require a little elaboration.
First of all the 'status' of a distillery. I've tried to make the overview
a little more accessible by
colour-coding the entries. The 'ghosted'
entries signify closed distilleries, while the fresh green names on the
list represent 'upstarts' that have recently begun producing whisky.
However, the borders are not always clearly defined. When a closed
distillery was demolished (like Saint Magdalene), it will never produce
whisky again - the buildings and/or equipment were destroyed. But
if a distillery is
mothballed (like Caperdonich, Glen Keith or Imperial)
there's a chance it will be revived later. There's also a grey area with
distilleries with intermittent production
like Scapa and Glen Scotia.
The removal of a special set of stills from a building where one or
more sets of stills remain active counts as closure of the 'distillery'
where a malt by that name (for example Mosstowie) was produced.
The concept of 'ranking' distilleries also deserves an explanation.
During 'A Decade of Heavy Dramming' I was frantically trying to
get at least six expressions from every active distillery in Scotland
on my 'Track Record'. The motivation for this
monomaniacal effort
came from a delusion. For many years I honestly believed I would
be able to say something 'definitive' about the quality of the malt
whisky that was produced at a certain distillery, if only I sampled
enough different expressions. At the time six seemed enough...
Just when I had reached my 'Hamstergeddon' goal in 2006, this website crashed.
I had been using the old 'Distillery Data' page to track my progress, so now my 'madministration' was a mess.
Fortunately, I was also struck with a sobering insight around the same time. The character and 'quality' of a particular malt whisky is influenced by so many factors that a 'brand'
that released the most beautiful bottlings in the 1990's could be bottling mediocre drivel in the third millennium - and vice versa. That insight destroyed the foundation beneath the 'still scores' that were part of the
old DD page. I had operated under the mistaken impression that tasting six expressions would allow me to decide once and for all if a certain malt whisky should be on my future shopping lists or not. By now I realised that the
whisky world is constantly evolving and a 'brand' is only as good as it most recent bottlings - I would never be able to close my 'little black book' with tasting notes for good...
I realised that this made the 'definitive' still scores in the old 'distillery data' section pointless.
I needed a new, 'dynamic' system that would allow me to express my feelings about
factors like batch variation, upward or
downward trends, quality/price ratio, etcetera. So, I came up with the (purely personal) 'rankings' that you can find in the list
of Scottish distilleries. The minimum
score is one star, awarded for simply releasing a single malt in the first place; Deanston
or Loch Lomond may not be my favorite distilleries, but I still enjoy their malt whiskies more than the average blend. If some
expressions of that malt whisky are actually any good, the distillery earns up to four more stars. These rankings are dynamic,
so increasing prices while downgrading the quality of the product has pushed a distillery like Ardbeg quickly from my Top 10.
My purely personal Top 10 distilleries at the top of this page shows my current ten favorite distilleries in Scotland.
However, let me be the first to stress that it's purely personal and relatively arbitrary. The top 10 is based on the selection
of malts that I've tried over the years. Because I haven't tried an equal number of bottlings from all distilleries, this Top 10
isn't a representative representation of reality - just a reflection of my experiences so far. The rankings can be interpreted
as the probability of me spending my hard earned cash on other bottlings from that particular distillery;
***** = Absolutely - Official and independent bottlings perform superbly, almost without exception.
**** = Very probably
- Edutainment in a bottle; almost a guarantee for an interesting and enjoyable experience.
*** = Likely
- Even an 'average' Scotch malt whisky is still a very fine dram. These still beat the Johnnie Walker Black.
** = Unlikely - With so many excellent and (relatively) affordable alternatives available, why bother?
* = Highly unlikely - After sampling at least six expressions, I've given up hope for the foreseeable future.
These rankings are dynamic, so the introduction of a new
series of good, affordable OB's can boost a distillery's ranking.
As long as you keep in mind that these rankings are purely personal, they could provide a relative beginner with some guidance in the jungle
of available brands and bottlings. After sampling a
dozen different malt whiskies you should be able to determine if our tastes are similar.
If they are, you can use my scores and rankings - and perhaps the Beginner's Guide to Single Malt Scotch Whisky - as a simple guideline.
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Active Distilleries |
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If you're interested in Scotland and its many whisky distilleries, read on.
Below you'll find an overview of all active & recently closed distilleries
in Scotland. Apart from the name of the distillery (which links to a more
extensive distillery profile with history, background, statistics, trivia and
tasting notes), the overview below includes additional details. Here you
can find a
'ranking' (1 - 5 stars, indicating my enjoyment of the whiskies
that were produced at that distillery), the year a distillery was founded,
the status
of the whisky distillery (either active, mothballed or closed)
and the Scotch region of where that malt whisky distillery is located.
Thanks to many new small projects in Asia,
Europe and the Americas, that situation is
now changing. They have been making fine
whisky in Japan for a few dedades now, and
new projects
all around the world (Taiwan,
Tasmania, India, etc.) are doing very well.
Please see the Deviant Drams section for
details on all 'foreign' whiskies & spirits.
The list of 'Top 10 whisky distilleries'
higher up on the page provides an overview of the 10 malt
whisky distilleries in Scotland that I love the most. Well, at least at the moment... So, this doesn't
mean that I think that these ten distilleries have always made
the very best Scotch malt whisky;
just that at the moment these distilleries produce the most interesting single malt whiskies at the
most attractive prices. But that top 10 selection is based purely on my personal
preferences and
my limited budget. As you can see in the list below, there are over a hundred alternatives...
Scotch malt whisky distilleries in Scotland
Last but not least, the overview below shows the ownership
of the distillery. Some Scotch malt
whisky distilleries are owned by large corporations, while others are more individual enterprises.
Check out the Whisky Industry Overview in the mAlmanac for a general overview of the trade.
whiskey distillery
In this distillery section you can find much more details about the whisky distilleries of Scotland
(both malt whisky distilleries and grain whisky distilleries) and the classic malt whisky regions;
Speyside, Highlands, Lowlands, Islay and
Campbeltown. Since a few years this site section also
features a nifty Javascript feature I built together with my brother: an
interactive distillery map.
This 'Distillery Data' section provides profiles for
all active malt whisky distilleries in Scotland, as
well as a handful of new distillery projects and
silent distilleries. However, this section is not an
overview of every Scotch whisky distillery
that
ever existed. That means that a distillery that
was closed before 1970 is not listed on this page.
If the name
you're looking for isn't listed in the big
overview below, you could try the 'brands' page; it
provides an overview of many alternative names
that you can find on
the label of a whisky bottle.
This section of the web site was also enhanced
with an interactive whisky map of Scotland that
features all Scotch whisky distilleries in Scotland,
both
malt whisky and grain whisky distilleries.
