Aberfeldy Distillery

Aberfeldy’s story

Aberfeldy is located in the Highlands close to the town of Pitlochry. It is owned by John Dewar & Sons. One of the reasons that it is not so well known is due to the fact that only a small percentage of the 3.4 million litres of whisky produced there every year is released as a single malt under the Aberfeldy name. The majority goes in to the blending of Dewar’s White Label, which is one of the world’s leading selling blended whiskies, with Aberfeldy being marketed as ‘the spiritual home of Dewar’s whisky’.

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Aberfeldy’s history

Founded in 1896 by brothers John and Tommy Dewar to produce single malt for their increasingly popular Dewar’s White Label blended Scotch whisky. It was designed by legendary Victorian distillery architect Charles Doig and production began in 1898. The distillery has only been closed for two years since this date, from 1942 to 1944 due to a shortage of barley during World War II. The distillery was expanded significantly in 1972 to produce more whisky as White Label became one of the most consumed whiskies in the world. Aberfeldy malt remains the backbone of the Dewar’s range, which is the best-selling Scotch whisky brand in America.

In 1999, the launch of the classic Aberfeldy 12 year old single malt was followed closely by the distillery’s Dewar’s World of Whisky visitor centre opening in 2000. This makes Aberfeldy one of Scotland’s most popular and most-visited distilleries. The single malt range went through a major relaunch in 2014 and the result has been a significant upturn in sales, which hit 1.5 million for the first time in 2023.

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Dewar’s story

John Dewar & Sons are currently owned by the Bacardi Drinks Company. They in turn own a number of distilleries in the Highlands and Speyside regions of Scotland – Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Craigellachie, Macduff and Royal Brackla.

John Dewar & Sons was founded in 1846 and had grown out of Dewar’s small wine and spirit business based in Perth. John had started the merchants some years before and was joined by his two sons – John Alexander and Tommy. They began blending their own whiskies using spirit from local distilleries. This follows a similar track to several other famous blended whisky names that evolved from grocery stores or wine merchants across Scotland – George Ballantine in Edinburgh, John Walker in Kilmarnock, Arthur Bell also in Perth and the Chivas brothers in Aberdeen.

In 1880, John handed control to his two sons. John Alexander concentrated on production, blending and quality while Tommy went on to be a pioneer in whisky marketing and sales. This included sending a keg of Dewar’s whisky to US President Harrison in 1891, which is widely regarded as being the step that gave Dewar’s a headstart in the American market, and securing a Royal warrant from Queen Victoria in 1893 – this made Dewar’s the first blended Scotch brand to have one, which remains to this day.

The building of Aberfeldy commenced in 1896 with the aim to provide single malt for Dewar’s expanding blended Scotch range. 1899 saw the introduction of the now legendary White Label. Fast forward almost a century and Stephanie Macleod joins the Dewar’s team. In 2006 she became the first female Master Blender of the brand, and only the seventh overall. She remains in this position today.

• How to pronounce Aberfeldy? ah-bur-fell-dee
• Country: Scotland
• Region: Highlands
• Founded: 1896
• Current owners: John Dewar & Sons (Bacardi)
• Production capacity per year: 3.4 million litres
• Mash tun: 7.5 ton stainless steel
• Washbacks: 11
• Stills: 4
• Visitor centre: Yes

Dewar’s Aberfeldy Distillery
Aberfeldy
Perthshire
PH15 2EB
tel – +44(0)1887 822010
www.aberfeldy.com
www.dewars.com/aberfeldydistillery

Did you know?

Tommy Dewar, one of the distillery’s founders was the third person in the UK to own a car, after Thomas Lipton (who first imported tea from India) and the Prince of Wales.