The process

cask islay

Discover more about A D Rattray's award winning whisky Cask Islay. A. D. Rattray have specially selected this single malt for its wonderful Islay characteristics. The complex and refreshing flavours will delight lovers of Islay whiskies, while its charm and charisma will tempt many to their first taste from this beloved West Coast isle.

the glenallachie

Since reviving The GlenAllachie Distillery, Master Distiller Billy Walker has spent endless amounts of time carefully analysing the spirit within each and every cask. It was then he realised just how special our whisky was. Now, the GlenAllachie single malt is ready to be enjoyed by the world. Billy proudly puts his name to every single one of these bottles.

The water to the distillery comes from dam heads over 2 miles from the distillery. Henshead and Blackstank flow into Beachshach Burn, which supplies the water directly to the distillery, and sits on the North East of BenRinnes.

At GlenAllachie, we have the capacity to produce four million litres of alcohol (LOA). We made the decision to reduce this to just 800,000 LOA. Such a large quantity was simply surplus to our requirements; we wanted to focus on developing GlenAllachie as a single malt brand. By slowing down production, we now have the luxury of time for a longer fermentation of 160 hours. This allows us to better understand the operations at the distillery and gives us the time to discover the character of the new make spirit.

Unlike most Scottish Distilleries, our still house has two separate spirit safes which allows us to operate each set of stills independently. As the distillery was designed to be gravity fed, we also have horizontal condensors that makes it easier to maintain a consistent temperature, or increase/decrease to alter the character of the spirit.

We believe age statements are important.

When we acquired the distillery in October 2017, we were extremely fortunate to obtain a vast amount of aged stock dating as far back as the 1970’s. Having been given the gift of time, Master Distiller Billy Walker immediately set to work putting his fingerprint on our single malt.

Just like our whisky, this is something we certainly aren’t short of. At the moment we have 16 warehouses at GlenAllachie, of which we store over 50,000 of our own casks on site. When we bought the distillery in 2017, Billy decided he wanted to add a little tradition with the addition of two dunnage warehouses. His vision doesn’t stop there, with future plans for more warehousing.

In an era of mergers and acquisitions we buck the trend taking GlenAllachie private and making it one of the few independently owned distilleries in Scotland. We make decisions for all the right reasons – the quality of our whisky always being the top priority!

A team driven by passion, we are lucky enough to be writing our own history, creating our own legacy and introducing the world to the GlenAllachie Speyside single malt.

glengyle's kilkerran

Frank McHardy, Director of Production, takes us through the colourful history of whisky production in Campbeltown, Scotland. He describes the setting up of Mitchell's Glengyle Distillery and how his involvement shaped the Distillery set up. Also look out for the other two videos of Gavin McLachlan and Stephen Kelly talking about the production and set up of Kilkerran Single Malt whisky and Mitchell's Glengyle Distillery.

KILCHOMAN

From Barley to Bottle - follow the process of how whisky is distilled and learn how Kilchoman whisky is made.

Meet founding director of Kilchoman Distillery, Anthony Wills

In this, the second of our People Behind the Whisky series we talk to Islay Heads, General Manager here at Kilchoman. A true Ileach, Islay’s affection for the island, its’ people and produce is reflected in his passion for our 100% Islay philosophy. As General Manager Islay oversees every part of our unique barley to bottle whisky-making process. From planting the barley to bottling the whisky, Islay ensures no corners are cut in our pursuit of crafting the finest single malt possible.

Meet Robin Bignal, Production Manager here at Kilchoman. As production manager, Robin oversees the key whisky-making processes at the heart of the distillery. From the malting and distilling to maturation and cask selection, Robin’s passion, knowledge and understanding of our unique hand-crafted practices guarantees the quality and consistency of each bottle of Kilchoman.

Meet Jamie Muir, Kilchoman Maltman and Stillman. As one of a four-man malting and stillman team, Jamie is responsible for the daily malting, kilning and distillation of Kilchoman spirit. The non-automated nature of our floor maltings and hand-operated stills create a reliance on the experience and expertise of the stillman and their ability to tailor their procedures to the natural variances of the process. The skill and care of Jamie, as well as Russel, JJ and Neil, is the key ingredient in the creation of Kilchoman single malt.

springbank

In depth look at Sprinkbank, Longrow, and Hazelburn production

stronachie

Discover more about A D Rattray's award winning whisky Stronachie as we transport you back in time with our spirit of another age...

tomintoul

wolfburn

Meet the co-founder of Wolfburn, Harry Taylor, as he talks about the revival of the Wolfburn distillery and the difference between each expression