Ballindalloch Distillery: Scotland’s First Single-Estate Malt

Ballindalloch Distillery: Scotland’s First Single-Estate Malt

✅Open to visitors — this distillery has a visitor centre and/or tours (some by appointment; book ahead — see the box below).

Ballindalloch at a glance

RegionSpeyside (Ballindalloch, Moray)
Founded2014
OwnerThe Macpherson-Grant family (Ballindalloch Estate)
Visitor centreYes — by appointment (pre-booked tours)
ToursThe Spirit Tour — small, technical, by booking
OpeningBy booking only — check the website
Websiteballindallochdistillery.com
CLANGRANT“Stand Fast”

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.

How it’s made

Ballindalloch began production in September 2014 in converted farm buildings on the Macpherson-Grant family’s estate, beside Ballindalloch Castle. It has just two stills and a capacity of about 100,000 litres a year, with water from the Garline Springs; barley is grown on the estate and the spirit matures on site, which is how it markets itself as Scotland’s first single-estate distillery. It won the Craft Producer award at the Whisky Magazine Awards 2022.

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

Sources