Benromach distillery is a Speyside distillery founded by Duncan McCallum and F.W. Brickman in 1898 and currently owned and run by Gordon and Macphail of

Elgin Elgin may refer to: Places Canada * Elgin County, Ontario * Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Chatham-Kent, Ontario * Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario ...

. It is situated near

Forres Forres (; gd, Farrais) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions. There ...

Morayshire Moray; ( gd, Moireibh ) or Morayshire, called Elginshire until 1919, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. It ...

and is fed with spring water from the Chapelton Springs in the Romach Hills beside

History

Duncan MacCallum and F.W. Brickmann founded the Benromach Distillery Company in 1898. Duncan MacCallum had previously been working at the

Glen Nevis Distillery A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishi ...

and FW Brickmann was a spirit broker in

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Construction work started at the site of Benromach Distillery in 1898 however due to the depression in the

Scotch Whisky Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland. All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial dist ...

industry in 1898 the distillery did not start producing

whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden ca ...

until 1900 but closed the same year due to a lack of money. In 1911 Benromach was acquired by the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

based Harvey McNair & Co who continued distilling until the onset of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

. After the war Benromach was acquired by Benromach Distillery Ltd and was run by this new private company until 1925. In 1938 Benromach was acquired by

Associated Scottish Distilleries Ltd Associated may refer to: *Associated, former name of Avon, Contra Costa County, California * Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto, a school in Canada *Associated Newspapers, former name of DMG Media, a British publishing company See also *Associati ...

which later became a part of

Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

. Between 1966 and 1974 the distillery was modernised and continued to run until 1983 when the distillery was officially closed. In 1993 Gordon and MacPhail took over the site and in 1997 they started to restore the distillery to a working order. The design of the distillery was changed slightly to allow it to be operated by one man. Finally in 1998 the distillery was officially reopened by

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

and bottling of the new malt started in 2004. At the World Whisky Awards 2014, Benromach 10 Years Old won gold in the "Best Speyside Single Malt – 12 Years and Under" category. The Malt Whisky Trail Map

Scotland's Malt Whisky Trail Eight malt whisky distilleries and a cooperage form the Malt Whisky Trail in Scotland's Speyside. Seven of the eight distilleries are in production and operational, whilst the Dallas Dhu distillery is a historic distillery. The Malt Whisky Trail ...

is a tourism initiative featuring seven working Speyside distilleries including Benromach, a historic distillery ( Dallas Dhu, now a museum) and the

Speyside Cooperage The Speyside Cooperage is a cooperage located in Craigellachie, Aberlour, Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border ...

. According to a BBC article, visitors can try some of the whiskeys and "see the traditional dunnage warehouse (where the whiskys are stored to mature), the mash tun, the burnished copper stills — and the cask signed by Prince Charles".

Production information

Mash tun In brewing and distilling, mashing is the process of combining a mix of ground grains – typically malted barley with supplementary grains such as corn, sorghum, rye, or wheat – known as the " grain bill" with water and then heating the mixt ...

s: 1, Stainless steel mash tun capable of holding 1.5 tonnes of mash *

Wash back WASH (or Watsan, WaSH) is an acronym that stands for "water, sanitation and hygiene". It is used widely by non-governmental organizations and aid agencies in developing countries. The purposes of providing access to WASH services include achiev ...

s: 13, 11,000 litre larch wash backs *

Wash still WASH (or Watsan, WaSH) is an acronym that stands for "water, sanitation and hygiene". It is used widely by non-governmental organizations and aid agencies in developing countries. The purposes of providing access to WASH services include achievin ...

s: 1, 7,500 litre charged steam heated wash still *

Spirit still Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

s: 1, 5,000 litre charged steam heated spirit still Benromach's annual output is around 400,000 litres of

cask strength Cask strength (also known as barrel proof/barrel strength) is a term used by whiskey (often spelled "whisky" outside of Ireland and the United States) and rum producers to describe a whiskey or rum that has not been substantially diluted after it ...

whisky.

Products

Current products

*Benromach 5 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky (40%

ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

) *Benromach 10 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky (43%

) *Benromach Peat Smoke (46%

) *Benromach Organic Special Edition, A certified organic single malt Scotch whisky (46%

) *Benromach Origins Batch 1 - Golden Promise (50%

) *Benromach Origins Batch 2 - Port Pipes (50%

) *Benromach Origins Batch 3 - Optic (50%

) *Benromach 15 Years Old (43%

) *Benromach 21 Year Old (43%

) *Benromach 25 Year Old (43%

) *Benromach Cask Strength 1980 (54.2%

) *Benromach Vintage 1968 (43%

) *Benromach Classic 55 Year Old (42.4%

)

Past products

*Benromach Tokaji Wood Finish *Benromach Sassicaia Wood Finish (45%

) *Benromach Port Wood Finish 22 Year Old (45%

)

References

External links

Benromach Distillery Official Website
{{Scottish Distilleries Distilleries in Scotland Scottish malt whisky British companies established in 1898 Food and drink companies established in 1898 1898 establishments in Scotland