Aberlour Distillery

Beneath the granite bulk of Ben Rinnes, in the Speyside village that gave it a name, Aberlour Distillery has spent nearly a century and a half making the case that slowness is a production method rather than an inconvenience. Founded in 1879 and owned, as of July 2026, by Chivas Brothers, the Scotch whisky arm of Pernod Ricard, it is one of the more sherry-forward voices in a region often characterized by lighter, orchard-fruit malts.

History & Heritage

James Fleming, a local businessman and philanthropist, built the distillery in 1879 near St Drostan's Well, on the High Street site it still occupies at AB38 9PJ. Fleming sold the business to Robert Thorne & Sons in 1892. Ownership passed to W.H. Holt & Sons around 1920 to 1921, with sources differing on the exact year, and then to S. Campbell & Sons in 1945, the firm that carried Aberlour into the modern era. Pernod Ricard acquired Campbell Distilleries in 1974, and in 2001, following the breakup of the Seagram drinks business, Aberlour was folded into Chivas Brothers, where it sits today alongside the rest of the Pernod Ricard Scotch portfolio.

The Whiskey

Aberlour's own account of its process points to soft water drawn from the Birkenbush springs and barley grown on farms within fifteen miles of the distillery. Mashing runs through a twelve-tonne stainless steel semi-lauter mash tun on a triple-water regime that yields a clear wort. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel washbacks of roughly 70,000 litres over an average of 48 hours, producing a wash near 8% ABV. Distillation is where the house character is set: an unusually long spirit cycle of about seven and a half hours, and a wide two-hour middle cut taken from 73% down to 63% ABV, run through stills with broad shoulders and gradually narrowing necks. The extended copper contact and reflux push bright fruit, honey, and floral esters into the new make spirit, which is reduced to 63.5% ABV before filling.

Most of the range is double cask matured, which at Aberlour means whisky aged separately in ex-bourbon casks and in Oloroso sherry butts, then married together before bottling. That method underpins the 12, 14, 16, and 18 Year Old expressions, alongside the 10 Year Old Forest Reserve. Aberlour A'bunadh runs the other direction: cask strength, no age statement, matured solely in Oloroso sherry butts, batch after batch. In November 2025 the distillery released a 50 Year Old single malt in a run of twenty worldwide.

Why It Matters

Aberlour is a useful reference point for anyone learning how sherry cask influence behaves in a Speyside malt without tipping into heavily peated or heavily oaked extremes. The awards record supports it. Aberlour 16 Year Old took a Gold Medal at the 2017 World Whiskies Awards, and A'bunadh Batch #70 was named Whisky of the Year at the 2022 International Whisky Competition, the same year master distiller Graeme Cruickshank was named Master Distiller of the Year. Pernod Ricard reports the brand has accumulated 65 gold awards and eight trophies in tasting categories since 1986. Chivas Brothers has also invested heavily in the site, with an expansion program designed to roughly double capacity to 7.8 million litres of alcohol annually and to introduce lower-energy distillation technology. Forsyths, the coppersmith on the project, reported delivering eight new copper stills and completing still installation in May 2025, though later phases of site work continued after that point.

Visiting the Distillery

The Aberlour Brand Home offers several bookable, tasting-led experiences at the visitor centre that opened in 2002. Production areas are not currently part of what is offered. Anyone planning a visit should check the distillery's live booking portal for the experiences and pricing in effect at the time of travel.