Mortlach
Place in the hierarchy
The distillery in brief
Mortlach’s main claim to fame, production wise, is as the home of the most fiendishly complex distillation regime in Scotland.
Core bottlings
History
Mortlach was the name of the original village which sprang up around the abbey of the name, founded by Saint Moluag in the 7th century. With the building of Dufftown in 1817 the old name fell in abeyance – apart from the distillery.
The distillery was the first to be licensed within Dufftown, being founded by James Findlater, Donald Mackintosh and Alex Gordon in 1823. It passed briefly into the hands of the Grant brothers of Glen Grant fame who gutted the buildings and used the equipment for their distillery in Rothes.
It was George Cowie and his son Alexander who, from the 1850s on, recommenced whisky production and steered Mortlach to a pre-eminent position as a blending malt.
Although no-one is sure where the unique distillation regime originated, its adherence to richness and weight singles Mortlach out as one of the distilleries with a robust belief in the older ways of making whisky.
It remained in the Cowie’s hands until 1923 when it became part of John Walker & Sons and from there via DCL into Diageo.
In 2014, it was announced that a mirror image of the existing distillery would be built which, when completed, will double total capacity.
Timeline
- 1823 James Findlater, Donald Mackintosh and Alex Gordon found Mortlach
- 1824 Findlater steps back from the project, leaving the distillery to Gordon and Mackintosh
- 1831 John Robertson purchases Mortlach for £270, who then sells is to A&T Gregory the following year
- 1837 Grant brothers, James and John, become part-owners and gut the distillery
- 1853 George Cowie becomes part owner, and takes over sole operation when John Alexander Gordon dies in 1867
- 1895 Cowie's son, Alexander, joins the company and two years later extends Mortlach's stills from three to six
- 1923 John Walker & Sons purchase the distillery from the Cowies
- 1925 The group becomes part of Distillers Company Limited
- 1968 Mortlach halts use of its floor maltings
- 2014 Four new bottlings are released as Diageo announces plans to extend the distillery
Production facts
- Condenser Type
- Worm tub
- Fermentation Time
- Minimum 53hrs
- Filling Strength
- 63.5%
- Grist Weight (t)
- 12
- Heat Source
- Steam
- Malt Specification
- Non peated
- Malt Supplier
- Mainly in house
- Mash Tun Type
- Lauter
- New-make Phenol Level
- Non peaty
- New-make Strength
- 71-72%
- Spirit Still Charge (l)
- 9,000
- Spirit Still Shape
- Neck ball
- Stills
- 6 (1 intermediate)
- Wash Still Charge (l)
- 10,300
- Wash Still Shape
- Neck ball
- Washback Type
- Wood
- Washbacks
- 6
- Water Source
- Conval Hills Spring
- Wort Clarity
- Clear
- Yeast Type
- Creamed
Ownership
Previous owners (11)
In catalogue All in catalogue
