GlenAllachie Whisky

One of a few distilleries built to produce blending whisky, GlenAllachie (pronounced ‘Glen-al-ACK-ee’) was founded by Mackinlay, McPherson and Co to provide malt whisky for Mackinlay blends. The distillery stands in the heart of Speyside, at the foot of Ben Rinnes and in relatively close proximity to Aberlour. Both whisky distilleries draw their water from springs in the mountains.

All of the three million litre annual production is intended for blending and it is rare to find single malt whisky from the GlenAllachie distillery. All of the spirit is matured onsite in ex-bourbon casks; the distillery boasts fourteen onsite warehouses. The building was planned as early as 1940, by the famed architect William Delmé-Evans, designer of Isle of Jura, though GlenAllachie was not founded until 1967.

Invergordon Distillers acquired Charles Mackinlay Ltd from Scottish and Newcastle Breweries Ltd. The deal included the Isle of Jura and GlenAllachie distilleries. Following a brief closure in 1987, Campbell Distillers, a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard, acquired the distillery in 1989. GlenAllachie was later transferred to Chivas Brothers hands. 2005 saw the first official GlenAllachie bottling, a 15 year old cask strength expression, distilled when the distillery was reopened in 1989.
In July 2017, Chivas Brothers announced plans to sell GlenAllachie to The GlenAllachie Distillers Company, operated by former BenRiach MD Billy Walker, along with Graham Stevenson and Trisha Savage, both previously from Inver House. In April 2018 six single cask bottlings were released, with GlenAllachie’s first core range of four single malts released in June 2018.