Ballindalloch Distillery

Although Ballindalloch stands as one of Scotland’s newer distilleries, its roots stretch back to the 16th century. Situated within the Ballindalloch Castle grounds along the River Avon, the distillery represents a resurgence of the Macpherson-Grant family in whisky making.

Dating back to 1546, Ballindalloch Castle has been the ancestral home of the Macpherson-Grants. However, it was at Cragganmore, a short distance away, that the family initially ventured into Scotch whisky. Leasing part of the Ballindalloch estate to John Smith in 1869, they established Cragganmore Distillery. After Smith's passing in 1923, joint ownership with White Horse Distillers followed.

Although the family divested their stake in Cragganmore to DCL in 1965, it took nearly five decades for them to reenter the whisky domain.

In 2011, Guy Macpherson-Grant, the 23rd generation and current occupant of Ballindalloch Castle, commenced the construction of a malt whisky distillery within a 19th-century farmstead, making it Scotland’s sole whisky distillery within a castle's confines.

Branding itself as 'Scotland’s first single estate distillery', Ballindalloch utilizes barley from its own fields and nourishes its prize-winning Aberdeen Angus cattle with the draff. Although production officially commenced in late 2014, the distillery received its official inauguration with a visit from the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay (Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall) in 2015.

The Macpherson-Grants have pledged to age Ballindalloch’s whisky for a minimum of eight years before bottling. However, visitors to the distillery can sample some of the family’s private casks from Cragganmore.