Aberlour (pronounced ‘Ab-er-LAU-errr’) sits at the base of the rugged mountain range, Ben Rinnes. Nestled in the village of the same name, the distillery was founded by Peter Weir and James Gordon in 1826, though Peter was to pull out a year later. The village lies on the Lour Burn, which converges with the River Spey just 270 metres from the distillery. The 6th century Celtic saint St Drostan, baptised local chiefs in the distillery’s water source.
Owned by Chivas Brothers, a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard, Aberlour is the seventh bestselling Scotch single malt. The distillery was rebuilt twice due to devastating fire damage; the first rebuild took place in 1879 and was financed by James Fleming, a local banker who relocated it upstream. It was rebuilt again in 1898 and was redesigned by the architect Charles Doig. The core expression, a ten year-old, is a marriage of sherry and bourbon butt and, in 2003, it won the trophy for best single malt at the International Wine and Spirits Competition.
Aberlour opened up the doors to its brand new visitor centre in August of 2002, with tours tailored for whisky aficionados rather than hoards of tourists.
2008 was the first time that the 18 year old was introduced outside of France, while 2013 and 2014 saw the release of 2001 White Oak and White Oak Millenium 2004, respectively. Another sherried Aberlour expression made an appearance in 2018, in the form of Casg Annamh, a no age statement single malt.