Aberlour Distillery, Speyside: Sherried and Spiced

Overview

Aberlour — from Obar Lobhair, “the mouth of the chattering burn” — sits in the pretty Speyside village of the same name below Ben Rinnes. Its whisky is warming, sherried and spiced, famous above all for the double-cask style and for the cask-strength, un-chill-filtered A’bunadh, a favourite of sherry-bomb lovers.

The history

Aberlour was founded in 1879 by James Fleming, a local banker and grain dealer, on a site by the Lour burn where St Drostan is said to have baptised converts a thousand years earlier. Fleming was a great benefactor of the village — he built its bridge and hospital — and the distillery he founded was rebuilt after a serious fire in 1898 by the noted distillery architect Charles Doig. It passed through several hands before becoming one of the flagship malts of Pernod Ricard’s Chivas Brothers.

The water & the land

Aberlour’s water traditionally came from St Drostan’s Well, fed by soft water off the slopes of Ben Rinnes down the Lour valley (modern production also draws on the Birkenbush and Target springs). Soft hill water and sherry-cask maturation give the whisky its rich, rounded character.

Aberlour has no clan founding of its own — it was a Victorian commercial venture, built on a feu of land granted by the Earl of Fife, the Duff family, who dominated this stretch of Speyside. The wider district was historically Grant country, the lands whose farms and burns supplied the whole whisky trade.

How it’s made

Aberlour runs four stills — two wash stills of about 21,000 litres and two spirit stills — for around 3.9 million litres a year, with water from the Birkenbush and Target springs near where the Lour Burn meets the Spey. Most of its range matures in ex-bourbon casks, with sherry and fortified-wine finishes aimed particularly at the French market, where it is a favourite; the cask-strength A’bunadh is a regular, batch-numbered release. Owned by Pernod Ricard’s Chivas Brothers, it sold over 3.5 million bottles in 2014.

Visiting

Aberlour has a visitor centre in the old Gatehouse and runs an in-depth “Aberlour Experience” and Founder’s Tour, which should be booked ahead. It opens year-round with varying hours; check the website. The village itself, on the Speyside Way, is a lovely base for touring the region.

Nearby & more whisky

• Just up the hill, a mile or so away: GlenAllachie — walk-in friendly, no booking needed.
• Further along the foot of Ben Rinnes: Glenfarclas — standard tour needs no booking either.
• A couple of miles down the Spey: Craigellachie and The Macallan — book Macallan months ahead.
• Planning a day of it? Our Speyside Whisky Trail uses Aberlour as one of its touring bases.
• The whole picture: Scotch whisky — regions, distilleries & the oldest of all
• On the slopes of Ben Rinnes: Benrinnes, first swept away by the 1829 flood
• At Carron on the old Imperial site: Dalmunach, Chivas’s award-winning modern distillery
• In the glen below Ben Rinnes: Dailuaine, where the pagoda roof began

Sources

• Aberlour distillery — Wikipedia.
• Aberlour / Chivas Brothers; Scotchwhisky.com Whiskypedia.