Mortlach

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Founded

1823

Region

Speyside

Status

Operational

Company

Diageo

Production type

Single Malt

Production capacity

3,800,000 litres per year

Mortlach is a malt distillery in Scotland's Speyside region and was the first of the famous "Seven Stills of Dufftown" to be licensed, founded by James Findlater, Donald Mackintosh and Alex Gordon in 1823. Today it is part of the Diageo portfolio where it plays an essential role in providing fillings to its blends, particularly Johnnie Walker.

The distillery's famously complicated distilling regime (which sees the spirit distilled 2.81 times) produces distinctly "meaty" single malt that became so prized by John Walker & Sons that it bought the distillery in 1923. Despite its importance to it and other blenders, single malt has also regularly been made available both officially and through independent bottlers.

While the first Mortlach single malts were famously bottled by George Cowie & Son under the Cowie's Blue Seal name, the first to bear the distillery branding were not produced until the 1950s.

George Cowie & Son remained the named bottler on the labels as a subsidiary of John Walker & Sons until the 1980s, except in Japan where a slightly different version of the brand was marketed, occasionally known as Johnnie Walker Mortlach. These were often packaged either in ceramic decanters or in bottles designed to look like Japanese whiskies.

Consolidation efforts by United Distillers in the late 1980s saw the discontinuation of a distinct Mortlach label, with the new owner preferring to bottle a 16-year-old as part of its Flora & Fauna collection. This was introduced in 1991 and produced until 2013.

The Mortlach brand was then relaunched in 2014 with the release of Rare Old and an 18- and 25-year-old. These were unpopular in some circles however on account of their high price point and 50cl bottles sizes. As a result, the core range was revised again in 2018, now including 12- and 20-year-old alongside the return of the popular 16-year-old age statement.

Current owner

1997-present

1986-1997

1925-1986

1923-1925

Mortlach Distillery
Dufftown
Keith
Banffshire
AB55 4AQ
Scotland

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