The first distillery in the village of Aberlour was established in 1825 and ran until 1833, when the co-lessees James and John Grant left to build their own distillery, Glen Grant, in Rothes. The current distillery was the brainchild of James Fleming who built it in 1879 using water from St. Drostan’s Well, named after an early Columban monk, which is situated on the site.

Like many Victorian distilleries, it burnt down and, in 1898, had to be rebuilt. During World War II when the distillery was on short-term working, locals used to smuggle wash up the Aberlour burn and distil illicitly under the Linn Falls.

The distillery became part of Campbell Distillers in 1945, passing into the Pernod Ricard stable in 1974, the year after it had been expanded from two to four stills and wholly modernised internally. Its ownership has long given it a strong following in France. It is now part of Pernod’s whisky division, Chivas Brothers.