Benromach

When it came under Gordon & MacPhail’s ownership, the firm decided that Benromach should make an older style of Speyside malt – one with a little touch of smoke, medium in body and fruity – with the new equipment they had installed.

Benromach’s tale comes in two distinct parts. This Forres-based distillery was yet another of the new builds of the late 19th century, constructed on land rented from a forgotten giant of the Victorian/Edwardian whisky trade, Alexander Edward [see Craigellachie/Aultmore].

Building started in 1898, but the distillery didn’t start making whisky until 1900. Its production was intermittent after that, with the distillery passing through a number of hands: Macdonald Greenlees, Joseph Hobbs, National Distillers of America and, finally, DCL .

The industry giant kept it running until 1983, when it was closed, one of a large number of distilleries which were shut as a result of an industry-wide stock surplus.

After 11 years of silence – during which its interior had been cannibalised for parts by Diageo – it was bought by Elgin’s Gordon & MacPhail . The firm then set about building what was effectively a new distillery in the shell of the old. It took the firm five years of trials before the first spirit was made.