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Craigellachie Distillery

Crossroads

Craigellachie, the village, sits arguably at the heart and crossroads of Speyside. For visitors wishing to see the most distilleries, travelling the least amount of miles - Craigellachie would be the place to stay. The roads out of the village lead you to the famous whisky towns - Rothes, Elgin, Keith, Dufftown and Aberlour. Dozens of distilleries are within a radius of 15 miles.

Over the years, Craigellachie, the distillery, has passed through many crossroads. From change of ownership to rebuilding, from modernisation to retaining traditional methods. Today, Craigellachie displays a balance of traditional and modern.

The first impression of the distillery is the modern design of the buildings, the majority being erected as part of the rebuilding in the 1960s. However a pagoda is still visible - the maltings is the only building remaining from the original distillery. Although they ceased production many years ago, the building now houses one of the most technologically advanced mash tuns to be seen at any distillery. Not only is it extremely efficient in extracting the sugary wort, it can discharge ten tonnes of wet draff in seven minutes, although 20 minutes is more usual.

Modernisation continues with the automation of the whisky making process. Like many other distilleries, the computer screen is now a common sight. Althought at present only the milling and mashing process is computerised.

However the character of Craigellachie is mainly achieved by retaining the traditional worm tubs. No modern condensing units here - just a large tub of cold water full of copper coils.

Although not immediately noticable, there are no casks of maturing whisky to be found at the distillery. All new make whisky is tankered away to be filled into casks at filling complexes in the Central Belt.

Finally the name - for many years known locally as the "White Horse Distillery", Craigellachie Distillery is now signposted "John Dewar & Sons".