Aberfeldy distillery is a single malt Scotch whisky

distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

History

Aberfeldy Distillery was founded by the John Dewar & Sons, Ltd. in 1896, and opened in 1898. The distillery is located on the eastern outskirts of Aberfeldy, on the southern bank of the upper Tay. The demand for barley as a basic foodstuff during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

led to the distillery being closed from 1917 to 1919. The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

also caused barley supplies to be cut, and the distillery was again forced to shut down for some of this period. Supply to final markets was kept up by reducing the period whisky was laid up from 7 years to 3. In 1925, the distillery passed to

The Distillers Company The Distillers Company plc was a leading Scotch whisky company and, at one time, a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was taken over in 1986 by Guinness & Co. and is now part of Diageo. History The Distillers Company origins lie in a trade ...

when Dewars amalgamated with it. In 1972 the distillery was enlarged, and the old stills were replaced by four new steam heated stills. Ownership later passed to

Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form ...

, which became

Diageo Diageo plc ( ) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It is a major distributor of Scotch whisky and other spirits and operates from 132 sites around the world ...

in 1997. In 1999, an Aberfeldy 12 Year Old Single Malt brand was introduced. In 2000, a new distillery visitor center named "Dewar's World of Whisky" was opened at a cost of £3 million. The

Earl of Elgin Earl of Elgin ( ) is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in 1633 for Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin, Thomas Bruce, 3rd Lord Kinloss. He was later created Baron Bruce, of Whorlton in the County of York, in the Peerage of England on 30 Ju ...

opened the facility, it being designed for marketing Aberfeldy products and educating the public about the process of distillation and history of the Dewar's brand. Aberfeldy is the largest malt whisky component of Dewar's Blended Whisky.

The distillery

Aberfeldy is situated in the centre of Scotland, some five miles east of

Loch Tay Loch Tay () is a freshwater loch in the central Scottish Highlands, highlands of Scotland, in the Perth and Kinross and Stirling (council area), Stirling Subdivisions of Scotland#Council areas, council areas, the largest body of fresh water in ...

and the town of Kenmore and about eight miles south of

Loch Tummel Loch Tummel (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Teimheil) is a long, narrow loch, northwest of Pitlochry in the council area of Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is fed and drained by the River Tummel, which flows into the River Tay about south-east of the C ...

. Aberfeldy relies on the fresh water stream Pitilie Burn, which runs alongside the distillery. Aberfeldy is the only distillery in Scotland to use these waters. The area contains historical landmarks, such as

Kenmore Bridge Kenmore may refer to: Places Australia * Kenmore, Queensland * Kenmore Hills, Queensland * Kenmore House, Rockhampton, in Queensland * Kenmore Asylum, a decommissioned psychiatric hospital in Goulburn, New South Wales ** Kenmore railway statio ...

. This was built by the 3rd Earl in 1774 and the view from it was the inspiration for Robert Burns's poem on the chimney piece of the Kenmore Inn. The distillery has two wash stills with a capacity of about 16,500 liter and two spirit stills with 15,000 liters. With these capacities the Aberfeldy distillery lies in the middle of the range of pot still sizes.

Products

Aberfeldy 12 years old Aberfeldy 18 years old Aberfeldy 21 years old Whisky from the distillery is also independently bottled by bottlers including

That Boutique-y Whisky Company ''That'' is an English language word used for several grammatical purposes. These include use as an adjective, conjunction, pronoun, adverb and intensifier; it has distance from the speaker, as opposed to words like ''this''. The word did not ...

Gordon & MacPhail Gordon & MacPhail is an independent bottler and distiller of Scotch Whisky, founded in 1895 and located in Elgin in the north-east of Scotland. It is a family business owned by the Urquhart Family. Gordon & MacPhail is the Trading name of Sp ...

and WM Cadenhead.

Reviews and accolades

International

Spirit ratings With a growing number of offerings, such as those produced by an increasing number of microdistilleries, various mechanisms have arisen to provide reviews and opinions of individual varieties of spirits. These events generally use expert panels ...

organizations and liquor review bodies generally have had divergent reactions to Aberfeldy whiskies. The

San Francisco World Spirits Competition The San Francisco World Spirits Competition was founded in 2001 by Anthony Dias Blue as an off-shoot of the San Francisco International Wine Competition. It assesses hundreds of entrants annually (1,407 in 2013 from 63 countries) with tastings i ...

has awarded the Aberfeldy 12- and 21-year whiskies a series of impressive medals, with the 12-year winning three golds and three silvers between 2007 and 2012 and the 21-year winning three golds, a double gold, and two bronze medals over the same time frame. By contrast, ''

Wine Enthusiast Magazine Wine Enthusiast Companies is a New York based company that engages in the wine, e-commerce, information, education, events, media, and travel markets.Covel, Simona, ''The Wall Street Journal'' (October 2, 2008)Wine Enthusiast Looks to Win Over ...

'' rated both offerings in its 85-89 range, a relatively modest score, in 2008.

References

External links

Aberfeldy HomepageVirtual Tour of the Aberfeldy DistilleryDewar's Homepage
{{coord, 56, 37, 28, N, 3, 50, 59, W, dim:50_scale:500_region:GB-ELN_type:landmark, display=title John Dewar & Sons Bacardi Distilleries in Scotland Scottish malt whisky 1896 establishments in Scotland Buildings and structures in Perth and Kinross Economy of Perth and Kinross Industrial buildings completed in 1896 Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross