Craigellachie

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Founded

1891

Region

Speyside

Status

Operational

Company

Bacardi Limited

Production type

Single Malt

Production capacity

4,000,000 litres per year

Craigellachie is a malt distillery in the Speyside region of Scotland, situated within the famous town of the same name. Opened in 1891, it spend the majority of the 20th century as a Distillers Company asset before an anti-trust ruling ordered Diageo to sell it in 1998. It is today part of the Scotch whisky holdings of Bacardi Limited and is operated through its John Dewar & Sons division.

The distillery has a famously sulphuric make due to the limited copper contact within its worm tubs. This, coupled with its long fermentations produces a full-bodied yet aromatic spirit that is highly prized by blenders, as well as emerging as a popular single malt in its own right in recent decades.

Under the ownership of the Distillers Company, the license for Craigellachie was assigned to White Horse Distillers. Despite marketing Lagavulin and Glen Elgin single malts, it did not do the same for Craigellachie due to the importance of its output to theirs and others' blends. As such, the first distillery bottlings of Craigellachie did not appear until 1991 when United Distillers included it in their Flora & Fauna portfolio, following it up with a sold release as part of the Rare Malts Selection in 1995.

It was not until after the distillery's sale to Bacardi Limited in 1998 that Craigellachie single malt would be bottled with its own distinct branding. The first of these was a 14-year-old sold between 2004 and 2007, released alongside a a 10-year-old Royal Brackla, both of which were labelled in a similar aesthetic to their former Flora & Fauna counterparts. It was then 2014 before the brand returned, relaunched with its own dedicated aesthetic as part of Dewar's Last Great Malts collection stable alongside Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Royal Brackla and The Deveron.

The current Craigellachie core range comprises the unusual 13-, 17 and 23-year-old age statements. The younger of the three is also available with a Bas-Armagnac cask-finish.

Current owner

1998-present

1997-1998

1986-1997

1927-1986

1916-1927