Auchnagie Distillery — Highland Single Malt Whisky

Auchnagie Distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery that once stood near the hamlet of Tulliemet in Perthshire, Highland, Scotland. It was founded in 1812 and was closed for good in 1910–1912 after being absorbed by John Dewar & Sons. Also known in its later years as Tullymet, it was one of three small distilleries that once operated around Tulliemet, and today it survives mainly as an evocative ruin on the Atholl Estates.

History

Auchnagie Distillery was established in 1812 at Easter Auchnagie, roughly six miles southeast of Pitlochry, drawing its water from the Auchnagie Burn via a specially built stone-lined pool and sluice gate that regulated flow through dry spells. Like many small Highland operations of the era, it relied on a water wheel for power and traditional bere barley and peat, which meant production was, in the words of one historical account, "entirely at the mercy of rainfall."

James Duff is recorded as the first licensed owner from 1827, and the distillery changed hands at least seven times over the following decades, passing through operators including Duncan Scott (1860–1862) and Peter Dawson (1887–1888). Around 1895 it was acquired by the Perth-based blending firm John Dewar & Sons Ltd, which already controlled the much larger Aberfeldy distillery nearby.

Quick Facts

• Region: Highland (Perthshire)
• Founded: 1812
• Owner: John Dewar & Sons Ltd (last owner, from c.1895)
• Status: Closed

Closure & Legacy

Auchnagie ceased production in late 1910 and its equipment was removed by 1912, after nearly a century of licensed distilling. The closure followed the 1896 opening of Dewar's much larger Aberfeldy distillery, which made the small Auchnagie operation surplus to the growing blending house's needs — a single small still simply could not supply the volume its expanding brands required.

Little remains on site today beyond the old water pool (now an overgrown weed bed on Atholl Estates land), a stone-lined water channel, remnants of the concrete sluice gate, some stone walls, the former exciseman's cottage, and a bonded warehouse later converted for other use. No original Auchnagie bottlings are known to survive, but the distillery's memory has been kept alive commercially by The Lost Distillery Company, which has released a "Auchnagie" blended malt intended as a considered recreation of the whisky's historical character.