Roseisle Distillery, Burghead: Diageo’s Modern Giant

Overview

Roseisle is Diageo’s big modern Speyside distillery, near Burghead on the Moray coast. It opened in 2010 at a cost of about £40 million, the largest new malt distillery built in Scotland for decades. It has fourteen stills and a capacity of about 10 million litres, and it was built to supply malt for Diageo’s blends, above all Johnnie Walker. It won the Scottish Design Award and a RICS Scotland award in 2010 for its design and green features. From 2023 Roseisle began to appear as a single malt in Diageo’s Special Releases.

Where it is

The distillery is at Roseisle, between Burghead (about 2 miles) and Elgin (about 7 miles), next to Diageo’s large Roseisle maltings. Forres is about 8 miles west and Inverness about 45 minutes’ drive.

The full history

Why build Roseisle?

In the 2000s, demand for Scotch, especially Johnnie Walker in Asia and the Americas, rose quickly. Diageo needed far more malt than its older distilleries could make. Rather than extend them, it built a large new distillery beside its existing maltings at Roseisle, where barley is malted for many of its distilleries.

2010: a new kind of distillery

Roseisle opened in 2010. It was designed to be flexible: by changing how its stills and condensers are run, it can make a range of spirit styles, from light and grassy to heavy and meaty, to suit the blenders. It was also designed to save energy and recycle by-products on site. That year it won the Scottish Design Award and a RICS Scotland award.

Single malt at last

For its first decade Roseisle’s whisky went entirely into blends. In September 2023 it appeared for the first time as a single malt in Diageo’s Special Releases. In 2024 its malt was featured in Johnnie Walker Black Ruby.

How it’s made

Roseisle has seven wash stills and seven spirit stills, with a capacity of about 10 million litres a year. Water comes from a borehole. The flexible set-up lets it produce several different new-make styles for Diageo’s blends.

Clans, Picts & castles

• Duffus Castle, about 4 miles east, is one of the finest motte-and-bailey castles in Scotland. It was the seat of Freskin, a Flemish knight granted land here in the 12th century. His descendants, the de Moravia family, founded both Clan Murray and Clan Sutherland.
• Burghead, 2 miles away, was one of the largest Pictish forts in Scotland. Its carved bull stones and the ancient well inside the fort are remarkable. On 11 January each year the town holds the Burning of the Clavie, a fire festival.
• The Gordons and Inneses held lands across Moray. See Clan Gordon.

Stones, abbeys & the coast

• Sueno’s Stone, Forres: Scotland’s tallest Pictish cross-slab. See our standing stones guide.
• Kinloss Abbey, founded in 1150, and Pluscarden Abbey, founded in 1230 and still home to monks.
• Roseisle Forest and beach: pine woods running down to a long sandy beach, with wartime anti-tank blocks still along the shore.
• Loch Spynie and Findhorn Bay, both good for birdwatching. See our lochs guide.

Findhorn & the Culbin Sands

West along the coast, the village of Findhorn sits at the mouth of Findhorn Bay, a sheltered tidal basin full of seals and wading birds. Across the bay lie the Culbin Sands. In 1694 a great sandstorm buried the Culbin estate, with its farms, orchards and mansion, under dunes almost overnight. Today the area is covered by Culbin Forest, one of the largest coastal pine forests in Britain, with miles of walking and cycling trails. The Moray Coast Trail links Findhorn, Burghead and Hopeman along the shore.

Visiting

Roseisle is production only, with no visitor centre or tours. Nearby, Benromach in Forres and Glen Moray in Elgin both offer tours.

Nearby distilleries

• Miltonduff and Glenburgie (about 5 miles).
• Glen Moray and Linkwood, Elgin (about 7 miles).
• Benromach, Forres (about 8 miles), with tours.

The Speyside Whisky Trail and the whisky hub cover the region.

Sources

• Roseisle distillery — Wikipedia.
• Diageo / Malts.com.
• Historic Environment Scotland (Duffus Castle, Burghead).