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Aberlour

No: 54
Producer: Campbell Distillers
Region: Highlands
District: Speyside  -   Multimap view
OS Sheet 28 ; Map reference NJ 265 426 ; Latitude 57 28° N, Longitude 3 13° W
Founded 1826 ; Operating Status (1999): operating

The village and distillery of Aberlour are in the heart of Speyside. The distillery was founded by John and James Grant and probably pre-dates its first official recognition, in 1826. It was rebuilt in 1879 by James Fleming about a mile from the original site. It was taken over in 1892 by R. Thorne and Sons who considerably enlarged it and in 1898 it was rebuilt again then expanded in 1966 at its purchase by Campbell, now owned by Pernod Ricard. [cm] claims the 1879 rebuild followed a fire whereas [ms] puts the fire at 1898. For all I know there were two. Fires are the scourge of all distilleries and virtually all of them have suffered major fire damage at one time or another.

Recently the whisky was made by Ian Mitchell, who was born in the distillery grounds, died in 1992 and was preceded in his job by his father and grandfather. The distillery is noted for its pristine cleanliness and fastidious attention to detail. The water comes from St. Drostan's well.
mj/cm/ms


Distillery rating: 4*

Campbell Distilleries Ltd, Aberlour, Banffshire, AB38 9PJ
Tel: 01340-871204 (visitor centre)


tastings

SMWS bottling 54.3 - Aberlour 1985, aged 9 years
This is one of the cheapest on the list, and much better than you would guess from that fact, or from its age. The tasting notes represent it very fairly. Butter and lemon are indeed detectable. It's not among the "interesting" whiskies in the current list, but I would be happy to have a bottle of this one for early evening drinking in hot weather. [jw, 1995]

Hear "Aberlour" pronounced in AU or WAV format
Search Dr. Do'g's index for the history of Aberlour
There just might be some news about Aberlour in The "Scotsman" newspaper