Located in near the town of Montrose off the East Coast of the mid-Highlands, the distillery began life as a flax mill, becoming a malt distillery in 1898.

It was re-equipped to produce grain whisky in the middle of the 1900s (under the name ‘Montrose’), before later being converted back to malt in the 1960s (distilled as ‘Hillside’) and extended in the 1970s.

In the 1980s the name was returned to Glen Esk. Although the distillery is no longer in production, the large drum maltings continue to supply malt to other distilleries owned by the same group.