Mortlach Distillery

Mortlach’s story

Mortlach is a distillery in the heart of the Speyside region of Scotland. It is located in the town of Dufftown, which is widely regarded as the ‘whisky capital’ of the region. Mortlach was the first distillery to be built in the town in the early 1820s. Mortlach was the only distillery in Dufftown for over 60 years, until former distillery employee William Grant founded Glenfiddichin 1886. The town is now home to six distilleries – The Balvenie, Dufftown, Glendullan, Glenfiddich, Kininvie and Mortlach – with several others consigned to history. These include Convalmore, Parkmore and Pittyvaich.

The distillery is currently owned by Diageo and has a capacity of almost four million litres per year. The whisky produced at Mortlach is very popular with blenders and the majority gets tied up with blending contracts, especially Diageo’s own Johnnie Walker range. As a result, Mortlach single malts were difficult to find for most of its history. Now there is a compact core range, plus a travel retail exclusive and occasional appearance in the Diageo Special Releases collection.

Mortlach is well known for their use of quality ex-sherry casks during maturation but also for their rich, robust spirit. This is produced in one of the most idiosyncratic stillrooms in the whisky industry. There are only six stills but each one is a different shape and size, as each was added at different times. One is named ‘Wee Witchie’ and spirit that passes through it is distilled three times, compared to the regular two times elsewhere in Scotland and the other stills at Mortlach.

Mortlach’s history

The distillery was founded in 1823 by James Findlater, following the legalisation of the whisky industry with the Excise Act of the same year. It was built on land leased from the Earl of MacDuff and Findlater was joined in 1824 by Donald MacIntosh and Alexander Gordon. Mortlach then changed hands no less than four times in its first 15 years. The final owners were James and John Grant, who decided to dismantle the equipment and move it to start up Glen Grant distillery in a different part of the Speyside region. That was in 1837 and Mortlach did not start production again until 1851, when it was taken over by John Gordon. George Cowie, the man associated with Mortlach the most, joined as part-owner a couple of years later in 1853. In the subsequent years, part of the distillery had been used as a brewery and another section was made into a chapel by The Free Church of Scotland.

Gordon later became the mayor of Dufftown before dying in 1867, which allowed Cowie to take sole charge. Mortlach remained in Cowie’s family until 1923 when his grandson, Alexander Cowie, decided to sell the distillery to John Walker & Sons. They wanted Mortlach to secure the whisky for their blended ranges. This is the first instance of the distillery’s association with the Johnnie Walker blends, which has carried on ever since. John Walker & Sons later became part of DCL (Distillers Company Limited), which in turn became United Distillers, before evolving into today’s owners Diageo.

• How to pronounce Mortlach? mort-lack
• Country: Scotland
• Region: Speyside
• Founded: 1823
• Current owners: Diageo
• Production capacity per year: 3.8 million litres
• Mash tun: 12 ton
• Washbacks: 6
• Stills: 6
• Visitor centre: No

Mortlach Distillery
Dufftown
Keith
Banffshire
AB55 4AQ
tel – +44(0)1340 820 318
www.malts.com/mortlach

Did you know?

Mortlach’s warehouse was home to one of the first hydraulic lifts in Scotland. It was installed in 1897 to help lift whisky casks to the higher floors and has only recently been replaced.