Speyside Distillery

Its name came from an earlier Speyside distillery in Kingussie, which existed from 1895 to 1911.^5,6 George Christie, a Glasgow whisky blender and broker, bought the old barley mill in 1962, and the buildings were finished in 1987.^1,2,3 Production started three years later.^1,2,3

In 2000 Christie sold it to a private investment group that included his son, Ricky.^2,3 Harvey's of Edinburgh, headed by John Harvey McDonough, bought it in 2012 with Taiwanese food company Vedan and put exports to Taiwan first.^1,3,4

Its water came straight from the River Tromie.¹ It had 4 washbacks, the vessels where sugary wort from the mash ferments into wash.⁵ It had one wash still and one spirit still.¹ Both were copper pot stills of traditional shape.¹ Fermentation lasted between 120 and 180 hours, and the new spirit was light in style.^2,7 It could make 600,000 litres of alcohol a year.¹ In 2023 its spirit was taken to the Central Belt to mature.⁸

In 2021 Glasgow Whisky bought the company that owned the land and buildings, and planned a new distillery there called Glen Tromie.^1,9 Speyside Distillers stayed on as tenant and kept the equipment.^1,9 In 2023 planners approved plans by Speyside Distillers Company for a new distillery at Strathmashie, as it had outgrown this site.⁸ In 2025 Glasgow Whisky won approval to modernise the site, with work due in June and the first spirit planned for early 2026.^1,10 When Speyside Distillers, founded by John Harvey McDonough, left, its mash tun, stills, and washbacks went into storage at Forsyths in Rothes to wait for the new site at Strathmashie.^1,11