BenRiach Distillery — Speyside Single Malt Whisky

BenRiach Distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery located near Longmorn, close to Elgin, in Speyside, Scotland. It was founded in 1898 and is currently owned by Brown-Forman Corporation. Unusually for Speyside, BenRiach distils and matures classic unpeated, peated, and triple-distilled styles side by side, giving it one of the most experimental ranges in the region.

History

BenRiach was built in 1898 by John Duff, who also founded the neighbouring Longmorn distillery, on the site of an old farm known as "Riach" near a small hill (a "ben"). Its timing was disastrous: the distillery had barely started production when the collapse of whisky blender Pattisons Ltd in 1899 sent the industry into crisis, and BenRiach fell silent in 1900. For the next 65 years only its floor maltings remained in use, supplying malt to Longmorn, while the stills stood idle.

The distillery was finally brought back into production in 1965 by Glenlivet Distillers Ltd, prompted by growing demand for blended Scotch. Ownership passed to Seagram in 1978, and under Seagram the still house was doubled from two stills to four in 1985. From 1972 onward BenRiach also began the experimentation with peated and triple-distilled spirit that still defines much of its output today. Seagram's whisky interests passed to Pernod Ricard in 2001, and BenRiach was mothballed the following year.

In 2004 an independent consortium led by whisky veteran Billy Walker bought the distillery and restarted production, going on to acquire GlenDronach (2008) and Glenglassaugh (2013) to build a small independent group. That group was sold to American drinks company Brown-Forman in 2016, which remains the owner today and has continued to invest in the distillery's warehousing and visitor experience under master blender Dr Rachel Barrie.

Quick Facts

• Region: Speyside, Scotland
• Founded: 1898
• Owner: Brown-Forman Corporation
• Status: Active
• Stills: 2 wash stills, 2 spirit stills

Core Range

BenRiach's core range centres on age-stated single malts finished across varied cask types, alongside a parallel peated line: The Original Ten (10 Year Old, 43% ABV), The Smoky Ten (10 Year Old, peated, 46% ABV), The Twelve (12 Year Old, 46% ABV), and The Smoky Twelve (12 Year Old, peated, 46% ABV), with older expressions and limited/single-cask bottlings released periodically.