BenRiach

Founded in 1897 by John Duff, the original BenRiach was short-lived; following monetary difficulties the distillery was sold to the Longmorn Distilleries Company who closed it at the turn of the twentieth century. BenRiach, named for the Gaelic for ‘speckled mountain’, was one of the few distilleries with its own floor maltings, following closure they remained in use, supplying neighbouring Longmorn.

In 1985, following good fortunes, two extra stills were added bringing the total to four. The floor maltings were in use again and remained so continuously until 1999. BenRiach market their product as a classic Speyside malt, yet have rather unusually named bottlings, given Latin monikers, ‘Authenticus’ and ‘Maderensis Fumosus’ being among the number.

In April of 2004, BenRiach was sold, along with several thousand casks, for £5.4million to the South African company, Infra Trading, combining their efforts with Burn Stewart director Billy Walker. The BenRiach has released peated and unpeated bottlings and several exotic finishes as well as independent bottlings. An incredible seven bottlings have been released specifically for the Asian market, such has been demand.