The distillery in brief

Light in character, Strathmill uses a long fermentation regime to help create fruitiness.

Core bottlings

Strathmill 12 YO Flora & Fauna

43% 10 shops ★ 81

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Strathmill 11 YO (D.2010, B.2021) Sauternes Cask Finish, The Cooper’s Choice

55.5% 2 shops

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History

Thanks to the River Isla, Keith has a long history of milling, both for meal and weaving (the town still has a kilt museum). Two of those old mill sites have since been converted to distilleries, Glen Keith and Strathmill.

Built in 1892, it was originally called Glenisla (with -Glenlivet suffixed). Its original owners sold it in 1895 to W&A Gilbey which was by then building its holdings in Scotch [see Glen Spey, Knockando]. As Gilbey moved through various incarnations so Strathmill became an integral part of the J&B family.

Its only official release is as part of the Flora & Fauna range.

Timeline

1892 The distillery is founded as Glenisla-Glenlivet and begins its first production run
1895 English gin company, W&A Gilbey, purchases the distillery for £9,500 and renames it Strathmill
1962 W&A Gilbey merges with United Wine Traders to form International Distillers and Vintners (IDV)
1968 Strathmill's stills are doubled to four and purifiers are installed
1972 Watney Mann purchases IDV, which itself is acquired by Grand Metropolitan in the same year
1993 The first single malt bottling of Strathmill since 1909 appears as an Oddbins release
1997 Grand Metropolitan merges with Guinness to form Diageo
2001 The first official bottling of Strathmill appears in the Flora & Fauna series as a 12-year-old
2014 A 25-year-old is released as part of Diageo's Special Releases