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Glen Moray
Founded
1897
Region
Speyside
Status
Operational
Company
Production type
Single Malt
Production capacity
5,700,000 litres per year
Glen Moray is a Speyside malt distillery, originally established as West Brewery on the outskirts of Elgin. It converted to whisky production in 1897 and was later acquired in 1923 by Glenmorangie-owner and blender, Macdonald & Muir. In the 21st century the distillery has predominantly been French-owned, with LVMH acquiring Macdonald & Muir in 2004 before selling Glen Moray to the La Martinquaise division of COFEPP in 2008.
Today the distillery is run in Scotland by Glen Turner Distillery Ltd along with the Starlaw grain plant, and produces both its traditional non-peated single malt along side small runs of peated spirit as well.
The Glen Moray single malt brand was first marketed in the 1970s with the release of a 10-year-old age statement, later joined by a 5-year-old for the Italian market.
In the 1980s, the older of the two was then replaced by a new 12-year-old expression which also introduced the pot still-shaped bottle design so familiar with the brand of today. It also briefly saw the return of Glen Moray '93 as the brand name (a reference to Macdonald & Muir's founding year, 1893) which was a malt-heavy blend marketed in the 1950s. The '93 was dropped however as the transition from beige to the now-iconic blue labels took place in the 1990s. The proprietary expression during this period was still the 12-year-old, joined over the years by a 15- and 17-year-old. 1999 also saw the introduction of the two famous white wine cask-finished releases, a non-age statement drawn from Chardonnay casks and 16-year-old bottled from ex-Chenin Blanc barrels.
Having been treated as somewhat of a budget single malt brand under the ownership of the Glenmorangie Company, Glen Moray has been rehabilitated under the watch of La Martinquaise following its acquisition in 2008. The company initially stuck with the status quo in terms of the branding and core range before relaunching it in 2014. Now known as its Elgin Classic Collection, the proprietary range features a range of non-age statements whiskies that include various wine cask-finishes and a peated single malt. The classic 12-year-old is joined by several other age statements in the Elgin Heritage range.
Current owner
2008-present
2004-2008
1996-2004
1923-1996
Glen Moray Distillery
Bruceland Road
Elgin
IV30 1YE
Scotland
Active brands
Single Malt
