Linkwood distillery is a

Speyside single malt Speyside single malts are single malt Scotch whisky, whiskies, distilled in Strathspey, Scotland, Strathspey, the area around the River Spey in Moray and Badenoch and Strathspey, in northeastern Scotland. The two best-selling single malt whiski ...

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 ...

in Elgin, in the Speyside region of

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 ...

. It is owned by the British drinks giant

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 ...

History

The distillery was built in 1821 by Peter Brown with two

still A still is an apparatus used to distillation, distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively Boiling, boil and then cooling to Condensation, condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic Distillation#Laboratory_procedures, ...

s, and started production in 1825 with a capacity of 4,500 litres per year. The distillery was operated by James Walker until Brown's death in 1868, after which the distillery went under the control of his son, William Brown. Between 1872 and 1873 William Brown, the son of Peter Brown designed and built a new distillery with help of architect Methven, replacing the old one on the same location. The new distillery had a capacity of 227,000 litres per year. After William Browns death, the Linkwood-Glenlivet company was created by Browns family in 1898 and brought to the stock exchange. The distillery was then further extended to a capacity of 454,000 litres per year. In 1902 Innes Cameron joined the Linkwood-Glenlivet company and became managing director of the Linkwood distillery until his death in 1932. By that time he was the largest shareholder of the company. The company was sold to Scottish Malt Distillers, which itself was bought by The Distiller Company. After temporary closure between 1941 and 1945 as a result of

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

shortage during

World War II 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 ...

, the distillery reopened in 1945 under Roderick Mackenzie, who led the distillery until 1963. Mackenzie believed that all things in the distillery contributed to the final product. In 1962, Scottish Malt Distillers decided the distillery needed to be completely refurbished. Mackenzie oversaw the rebuilding of the distillery in his last year as general manager. The distillery was electrified, replacing the steam engine and water wheel that powered the distillery before, and all stills were replaced with exact replicas of the former stills. In 1971 a second distillery was built alongside the first, which became known as Linkwood B, with steam heated stills. The stills of the first distillery were converted to being heated by steam as well. With the build of Linkwood B the two distilleries reached their current combined capacity of 2.5 million litres per year. The distillery was mothballed between 1985 and 1990 when partial production restarted. In 2008,

resumed full production with three different official bottlings of Linkwood released. In 2024, Linkwood's Woven Honor Single Malt Scotch Whisky was released as a part of Diageo's Orphan Barrel Whiskey Co.

References

{{Scottish whisky distilleries Diageo Distilleries in Scotland Speyside area distilleries Scottish malt whisky 1821 establishments in Scotland Food and drink companies established in 1821 Buildings and structures in Elgin, Moray British companies established in 1821