Tamnavulin

In the 19th century, the term ‘Glenlivet’ was used to describe the whiskies of what we now know as Speyside. Its ubiquity also resulted in distilleries appending the name to their own. The irony of this is that until 1965 there was only one distillery in the glen of the River Livet - The Glenlivet. Tamnavulin was the second.

Tamnavulin was one of the distilleries built in the whisky boom of the early 1960s when demand was so far outstripping supply that new facilities had to be constructed. It was built by Invergordon Distillers (whose portfolio also included a grain distillery, Bruichladdich, Tullibardine and Jura). It had six stills and, for a period, Saladin maltings. Invergordon was in turn bought by Whyte & Mackay . In 1995, with the whisky market in steady decline, it was mothballed, only reopening in 2007 when Whyte & Mackay was purchased by Indian giant United Spirits. Its function as a supplier of fillings however hasn’t altered. It changed hands once again in 2014 when Whyte & Mackay was sold to Philippine-based Emperador.