Aberlour

A distillery was founded in the grounds of Aberlour House in 1825 by the laird, James Gordon, and a man named Peter Weir. By 1833 this venture had failed, and the distillery had been taken over by John and James Grant, in partnership with two brothers named Walker. When the lease ended in 1840, the Grants moved to Rothes and build Glen Grant Distillery- Peter Weir’s son became their commercial traveller and the Walker went to Linkwood Distillery. Like many Victorian distilleries, it burnt down and, in 1898, had to be rebuilt. During World War II when the distillery was on short-term working, locals used to smuggle wash up the Aberlour burn and distil illicitly under the Linn Falls.

The distillery became part of Campbell Distillers in 1945, passing into the Pernod Ricard stable in 1974, the year after it had been expanded from two to four stills and wholly modernised internally. Its ownership has long given it a strong following in France. It is now part of Pernod’s whisky division, Chivas Brothers.