Lindores Abbey is a Scotch whisky distillery in Fife that made its first spirit on 13 December 2017, after what the distillery calls a 523 year break.1,2,3 Its story rests on the 1494 Exchequer Roll, which the distillery calls the earliest written reference to Scotch whisky, then known as aqua vitae.4,5,6 After several years of stop-start production, it returned to full production in September 2025.7,8
David, Earl of Huntingdon founded Lindores Abbey in 1191, and monks of the Order of Tiron, in France, came from Kelso to build it.9 The 1494 Exchequer Roll gives John Cor 8 bolls of malt, about 500kg; the distillery calls him a Lindores monk, and Whiskypedia says he is thought to have lived there.
Drew McKenzie Smith's family bought Lindores Abbey Farm in 1913.3,6,12 The family did not know the site's whisky history until whisky writer Michael Jackson visited in 2001.1,13 His book later said of the abbey: 'For the whisky lover, it is a pilgrimage.'1,13
After 2013 planning permission and a dig that found an 18-metre abbey wall, building began in July 2016; consultant Jim Swan helped design it but died before completion.1,6,12 Drew and Helen McKenzie Smith opened the distillery in October 2017, in the old abbey farmstead, which was built with stone from the abbey.1,6,12 Gary Haggart, the distillery manager and formerly manager at Cragganmore, took the first spirit from the three stills, with Andy Cant as whisky consultant.1,2,3
Water comes from a borehole near the distillery, which the distillery says draws on the same supply used in 1494.5,6 It uses the Laureate strain of barley grown on local farms whose fields surround the distillery.5 Whiskypedia gives the malt a peat level of 0.5ppm.6 Fermentation runs in 4 douglas fir washbacks, where the sugary wort from the mash becomes wash, a kind of beer.6,14 Two washbacks ferment for 72 hours and two for 96 hours.6 It has three copper pot stills: one large wash still and two smaller spirit stills.5,6 The distillery says this gives more copper contact in the final distillation, for a clean and delicate spirit.5 Both kinds of still have a boil ball shape, and shell and tube condensers turn the vapour back into spirit.6 A kerosene-fired Cochran steam boiler heats the stills.6 It was founded with a capacity of 150,000 litres of pure alcohol a year.6,7 Whiskypedia says 95% of its spirit goes into single malt and 5% into aqua vitae, a malt spirit steeped with local herbs.6
In 2018, the company register recorded Spirex Ltd in place of Rubus Investment Limited as holder of 75% or more of the shares.15 In March 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Russian investors resigned as directors, while the McKenzie Smiths were in talks to buy their shares.8,16,17 At the time, Spirex Ltd, a Russian-controlled holding company, owned more than 75% of the company and had supplied it with over £10 million.8,16,17 Heath Alexander Forusz and Viacheslav Nazarov became directors in 2025, and a deal was brokered to pay back the Russian investors.8,18 The Courier reported that they owned Spirex Ltd, which held most of the company, and that the founders were minority shareholders.8
In 2025, after a review, the company disbanded its events business and later cut a small number of other jobs, but no production roles.7,8 Production had halted at times in 2025 as demand changed, until full production resumed in September 2025.7,8 On 2 October 2026, the company register stopped listing founder Andrew James Mckenzie-Smith, known as Drew, as a person with significant control.13,15,18 The Scotsman reported in September 2026 that he and his wife no longer had active roles, under a new board, caretaker CEO Nick Ravenhall and COO Jennifer Donaldson.13,15,18
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