MORTLACH DISTILLERY Syminton's Choice 17yo

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.