The Tomatin distillery was founded in 1897 during the 'whisky boom' of the late nineteenth century. The 'Pattison Crisis' that followed the boom wiped out many distilleries, but Tomatin managed to struggle for a few more years before it went bankrupt in 1906.

The Tomatin Distillery Co. Ltd. Resumed production in 1909 and for half a century the history of Tomatin was fairly uneventful. Their single set of two stills was quietly bubbling away on the border of the Highland region and Speyside region. However, in 1956 things started to change for Tomatin. The number of stills expanded from two to four and then two more were added in 1958. That's when the people of Tomatin started to think REALLY big. In 1961 4 more stills were added, bringing the total to 10 stills.  And in 1964 another still was added, making Tomatin (temporarily at least) one of only a few Scotch whisky distilleries with an uneven number of stills. By the time the maltings at Tomatin were closed in 1974, 23 stills were in operation making Tomatin Scotland's largest distillery, with an annual production of 12 million litres of alcohol.

The Tomatin Distillery Company went into liquidation in 1985, but just one year later two Japanese customers came to the rescue. In 1986 Takara Shuzo Co. and Okara & Co. bought the Tomatin distillery and became the first Japanese owners of a Scotch whisky distillery. In 1998 Takara Shuzo Co. (part of the Marubeni Group) acquires the shares of Okara & Co. and becomes the sole owner of the Tomatin Distillery Co. Ltd. By that time many more distilleries in Scotland were owned by Asian companies, including Bowmore, Glen Garioch, Auchentoshan, and Ben Nevis.  After the Indian take-over of Whyte & Mackay in 2007, the list grew even larger.

According to the Malt Whisky Yearbook 2008, the Tomatin distillery produces circa two million litres of alcohol each year. That means they're not even operating at half capacity - while the current capacity of five million litres is a mere shadow of the twelve million litres of alcohol, Tomatin produced around 1974. 

The turbulent history of Tomatin is interesting for another reason - it was the first distillery in Scotland that used a novelty from the brewer's world; the Lauter mash tun. Traditional mash tuns used turning rakes to keep mixing the malted barley and the water. In the lauter mash tun these rakes were replaced by sharp knives, twisting and turning to help the extraction of soluble starch. 

Today, with twelve stills in operation, Tomatin remains one of the largest malt distilleries in Scotland. The site produces mostly whisky in the classic sweet, fruity Highland-style, but also creates a small amount of peated Scotch whisky as well.