Ballindalloch Distillery: Scotland’s First Single-Estate Malt

Overview

Ballindalloch is Scotland’s first modern single-estate distillery — built in 2014 on the historic Ballindalloch estate, it grows its own barley, distils it and matures the whisky all on the same ground, in the shadow of Ballindalloch Castle. Small, hand-run and unhurried, it is a distillery that has deliberately gone back to first principles.

The history

Ballindalloch was created in 2014 by Guy Macpherson-Grant, the 23rd generation of the family to hold the estate, converting a 19th-century farm steading into a distillery. Its first single malt was released in 2020 after a patient, unrushed maturation.

The water & the land

Ballindalloch is made with water from the Garline Springs on the estate, and with barley grown in its own fields.

Ballindalloch has a genuine family and land story: it is the venture of the Macpherson-Grant family of Ballindalloch Castle, who have held this Speyside estate for centuries and on whose land neighbouring Cragganmore and Glenfarclas also sit.

Visiting

Ballindalloch is a small, by-appointment distillery: its Spirit Tour is an intimate, technical experience that should be pre-booked; check the website. The estate and its castle gardens are a fine day out in their own right.

Nearby & more whisky

• On the same estate lands: Glenfarclas
• Also on Macpherson-Grant ground: Cragganmore
• The whole picture: Scotch whisky — the full guide

Sources

• Ballindalloch distillery — Wikipedia.
• Ballindalloch Estate.