Millburn distillery was a Highland 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 ...

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

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 operated between 1807 and 1985. Its whisky was an important component of the "Mill Burn" vatted malt.

History

The distillery was founded as "Inverness Distillery" by Mr. Welsh in 1807 (sixteen years before the passage of the Excise Act 1823, which legalized whisky distillation.) It came under the control of James Rose and Alexander MacDonald in 1825, but the company was sold off four years later. In 1853, David Rose acquired the distillery and transferred control to his son, George Rose, in 1881. The younger Rose ran the distillery until 1892, when it was sold again to Andrew Haig & Co. In 1904, the distillery's name was officially changed to "Millburn" with the formation of the Millburn Distillery Company. In 1921, Millburn was acquired by Booth's Distillers Ltd. of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The owners were able to rebuild and restore operation after a fire damaged the distillery in 1922. Millburn became part of

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 ...

(DCL) as a result of the 1935 merger of Booth's with William Sanderson & Co., which itself was purchased by DCL in 1937. DCL moved Millburn under the control of Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd in 1943. Millburn was closed in 1985 by DCL and in 1988 many of the buildings were demolished, to allow for the property to be re-developed. In 1989,

Whitbread Whitbread is a British multinational hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742 by Samuel Whitbread in partnership with Godfrey and Thomas Shewell, with premises in L ...

opened a Beefeater restaurant named "The Auld Distillery" in one of the remaining Millburn buildings, and shortly after a Travel Inn hotel was added. The site is no longer a Beefeater but is still owned by

Premier Inn Premier Inn Limited, a subsidiary of Whitbread, is a British limited-service hotel chain with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. As of 2025, the company owned and operated over 800 h ...

References

External links

Scotch Whisky
* {{Scottish Distilleries Diageo Distilleries in Scotland Scottish malt whisky 1807 establishments in Scotland 1985 disestablishments in Scotland Companies based in Highland (council area) British companies disestablished in 1985 British companies established in 1807