Strathmill distillery information

The Strathmill distillery was established in 1891, under the name of the Glenisla-Glenlivet distillery. It was built on the site of an existing corn mill, established by A. G. Johnstone as Strathisla Mills in 1823 (though evidence has been found that there had been illicit distilling going on at the location as early as 1825). This explains the name, with “Strath” being Gaelic for a long valley, and the distillery being housed in a mill. It changed names to Strathmill in 1895, when it was bought by W. & A. Gilbey (aka Gilbey’s), a gin producing company that at the time also owned the Knockdhu distillery and would also end up owning Glen Spey.

In 1962, The Gilbey Brothers merged with Justin & Brooks (J&B) and United Wine Traders, and took on the name of International Distillers & Vintners (which would evolve into Diageo eventually). The amount of stills was doubled from 2 to 4 in 1968. In 1972, International Distllers & Vintners were snagged up by Watney Mann; which merged with Grand Metropolitan Hotels in the same year.  In 1997, Grand Metropolitan merged with Guinness to form, Diageo, who are the current owners of the distillery.

An interesting note is that Strathmill was the first distillery to ship its whisky by tanker. The name of the first tanker to do so was Whisky Galore.

Strathmill whisky

The lions share of Strathmill has always been used for blends, particularly J&B and Dunhill. Most whisky distilled will be transferred to Auchroisk for filling. Very little bottling actually takes place on-site. However, there have been two official Single Malt releases:

  • Strathmill 25 Year Old. Centenary celebration, released in 1992.
  • Strathmill 12 year old Flora & Fauna, released in 2001.

It is possible to find some independent bottlings, though you might have to spend some time looking for them.

Distillery info:

NameStrathmill
RegionSpeyside
Logo
StatusActive
Founded1891
Water sourceLocal Spring
Owned byDiageo
Address

Strathmill Distillery
Keith
Banffshire
AB55 5DQ

+44 (0) 1542 882295

Visitor centreNo
Websitehttp://www.malts.com
TwitterN/A
FacebookN/A
CommunityN/A
Map

Distillery Setup:

Component
Capacity
Quantity
Mash tun9 tonnes1 (Stainless Steel)
Washback46,500 litres6 (Stainless Steel)
Wash still11,000 litres2
Spirit Still6,700 litres2
Expected yearly output in LPA (Litres of pure alcohol)2,300,000