Cardhu’s story
Cardhu means ‘black rock’ in Gaelic and is located in the heart of the Speyside region, on the north bank of the River Spey. The distillery is currently owned by drinks giant Diageo. Recent expansion has almost doubled its size, and the whisky produced there forms a major part of the Johnnie Walker blended range. Now, around 70% of the whisky goes to Johnnie Walker and 30% is released as single malt – Cardhu is diageo’s third best-selling single malt behind The Singleton range and Talisker.
Cardhu is referred to as ‘the spiritual home of Johnnie Walker’, which is reflected in it being named as the Speyside representive distillery for the brand and one of the Johnnie Walker Four Corners of Scotland centres – the others are Caol Ila on Islay, Clynelish in the Highlands and Glenkinchie in the Lowlands. The Cardhu single malt sits consistently in the top 10 best sellers in the world, getting as high as 4th in 2003 when 3.5 million bottles were sold in a year. It is popular in southern Europe, particularly in Spain, France, Greece and Portugal.
Cardhu’s history
Close to the village of Knockando, the site at Cardhu had an illegal distillery running for many years. The land of Cardow Farm had been farmed and owned by the Cumming family for 150 years before the legal distillery was founded in 1824. Previous to this, John and Helen Cumming were famous in the local area for their particularly potent illicit whisky and this was sold from the farm’s kitchen window.
Once legalised, the whisky soon began to gain wider recognition and was sold as Cardow. In 1880, the distillery was expanded and the old equipment was sold to William Grant, who used it to set up Glenfiddich. Cardhu remained in the family until 1893, when John and Helen’s daughter-in-law Elizabeth sold the distillery to John Walker & Sons. Cardow had formed a major part of the Johnnie Walker blended range and they purchased the distillery in order to gain sole ownership of the whisky. It was their first ever distillery.
Elizabeth and her son John remained as Distillery Manager and Director respectively. John retired in 1923 but was succeeded on the John Walker & Sons board by his son Ronald. He would later become their chairman, then chairman of parent company DCL (Distillers Company Limited) and was also knighted. He was instrumental in re-introducing Cardow as a single malt in the late 1960s. The brand was only renamed as Cardhu in 1981.
- How to pronounce Cardhu? car-doo
- Country: Scotland
- Region: Speyside
- Founded: 1824
- Current owners: Diageo
- Production capacity per year: 3.4 million litres
- Mash tun: 8 ton stainless steel
- Washbacks: 10
- Stills: 6
- Visitor centre: Yes
Cardhu Distillery
Knockando
Aberlour
Banffshire
AB38 7RY
tel – +44(0)1479 874635
www.malts.com/cardhu
Did you know?
Co-founder Helen Cumming would famously raise a flag up a tall flagpole in her farmyard to warn local illegal distillers that Customs & Excise men were paying them a visit to Cardhu. This early warning system could be seen from almost three miles away.
Cardhu