Kininvie Distillery, Dufftown: The Grants’ Hidden Malt

Kininvie Distillery, Dufftown: The Grants’ Hidden Malt

⛔Production only — not open to the public — there are no public tours here; please don’t turn up expecting a visit.

Kininvie at a glance

RegionSpeyside (Dufftown, Moray)
Founded1990
OwnerWilliam Grant & Sons
Visitor centreNo — production-only
ToursNo public tours
OpeningNot open to the public
Websitekininvie.com

Overview

Kininvie is a little-seen malt made by William Grant & Sons on the same Dufftown site as Glenfiddich and Balvenie, chiefly for the family’s blends (notably Grant’s and Monkey Shoulder). It is rarely bottled as a single malt in its own right.

The history

Kininvie’s stills were installed in 1990 to give the Grant family firm a third malt for blending. It has no buildings or identity of its own to visit — it works quietly within the Glenfiddich/Balvenie complex.

The water & the land

Kininvie shares the Robbie Dhu springs in the Conval Hills with Glenfiddich and Balvenie.

Kininvie carries the Grant family name through its owners, William Grant & Sons, on the Balvenie site at Dufftown.

How it’s made

Kininvie runs three wash stills and six spirit stills but has no mash house of its own — its wash is piped across from Balvenie, about 200 metres away — with water from the Conval Hills. Production began on 4 July 1990 for William Grant & Sons’ blends, a limited “Hazelwood” single malt came first, and official Kininvie bottlings began in 2013 with a 23-year-old. Its malt also helps make Monkey Shoulder.

Visiting

Kininvie is not open to the public — it is a working production distillery with no visitor centre. Its whisky appears mainly in blends and in occasional official or independent single-malt bottlings.

Nearby & more whisky

Sources