GlenAllachie Distillery, Aberlour: Billy Walker’s Speyside Revival
GlenAllachie at a glance
| Region | Speyside (Aberlour, Moray) |
| Founded | 1967 |
| Owner | The GlenAllachie Distillers Co. (independent) |
| Visitor centre | Yes — opened 2019 |
| Tours | GlenAllachie Experience & Connoisseurs Tour — booking advised |
| Opening | Most days, seasonal — check the website |
| Website | theglenallachie.com |
Overview
GlenAllachie, below Ben Rinnes near Aberlour, has been transformed since 2017 from an anonymous blending distillery into one of Speyside’s most exciting single malts — rich, sherried and cask-driven — under the veteran whisky-maker Billy Walker. It has quickly built a devoted following.
The history
GlenAllachie was built in 1967, designed by the noted distillery architect William Delmé-Evans, and spent its life as a blending malt for a succession of owners. Everything changed in 2017, when a consortium led by Billy Walker (of BenRiach and GlenDronach fame) bought it and began releasing acclaimed single malts from its deep stocks of maturing casks.
The water & the land
GlenAllachie is made with water from springs on Ben Rinnes, the great whisky mountain of Speyside.
GlenAllachie had no founding clan — it was a 1960s commercial build. It stands near Aberlour on the slopes of Ben Rinnes, in historic Grant and Duff/Fife country.
How it’s made
GlenAllachie was founded in 1967 by Mackinlay McPherson and, since 2017, has been independently owned by a consortium led by former BenRiach managing director Billy Walker, with Trisha Savage and Graham Stevenson. It runs two wash stills and two spirit stills, currently making around 500,000 litres a year against a capacity of four million, with an unusually long 160-hour fermentation and water from streams on the north-east of Ben Rinnes. About 50,000 casks lie in its sixteen on-site warehouses, some from the 1970s, and a 2024 rebrand folded its limited editions into a “Wood Collection.”
Visiting
GlenAllachie has a visitor centre (opened 2019) and runs the GlenAllachie Experience and a longer Connoisseurs warehouse tour — booking advised, most days in season; check the website.
Nearby & more whisky
- Down the hill, a mile or so away: Aberlour.
- Also on the slopes of Ben Rinnes: Glenfarclas — standard tour needs no booking.
- A few miles down the Spey: The Macallan and Craigellachie.
- Planning a day of it? Our Speyside Whisky Trail lays out this stretch of the Spey as a touring base.
- The whole picture: Scotch whisky — the full guide
Sources
- GlenAllachie distillery — Wikipedia.
- The GlenAllachie Distillers Co.