Glentauchers is a Speyside whisky distillery near Mulben that began production in 1898.1,2,3 It was built to make spirit for Buchanan's and Black & White blends.1,2,3 It was silent from 1985 to 1992, and Chivas Brothers has owned it since 2005.1,3,4
Very good review score, 88 out of 100Very good88/100
Bright orchard fruits, peach and pineapple meet grassy, mineral and grapefruit notes, creating a vibrant whisky with a sweet yet sharply green balance.
In 1897 James Buchanan & Co. and the Glasgow whisky merchants W P Lowrie & Co formed the Glentauchers Distillery Co to build it.1,4,5 Charles Doig and Son of Elgin built it, on a site chosen for its water supply and the nearby railway.1,4,5 In 1903 the business became the Glentauchers-Glenlivet Distillery Co.3,5 In 1906 James Buchanan & Co. took full control and bought 80 per cent of W P Lowrie, which had been in money trouble for years.3,5,6 Around 1910 it began trials of continuous pot still distillation, running a mash of 100 per cent barley through an adapted pot still.3,6 Buchanan's Convalmore distillery took part in the same short-lived trials.3,6
Buchanan-Dewar and the Distillers Company
In 1915 James Buchanan & Co Ltd merged with John Dewar & Sons Ltd., creating a company later known as Buchanan-Dewar Ltd.6 Between 1923 and 1925 a new spirit store designed by Charles Doig went up, and the maltings and mash house were altered.6 Buchanan-Dewar became part of Distillers Company Limited in 1925, and the distillery came under its Scottish Malt Distillers arm from 1930.3,4,5 In 1965 and 1966 a new still house and mash house were built, and the number of stills went from two to six.1,3,6
Silent, then sold
1985–1992
It closed in 1985, at a time of low sales for Scotch whisky.1,3,4United Distillers owned it from 1986.3,4 In 1989 Allied Distillers bought it, and it became a named component of the Ballantine's blend.3,4,6 Production restarted in August 1992, and its spirit went into Allied's Teacher's blend.1,3,5
Allied Domecq and Chivas Brothers
In 1994 its owner, Allied Lyons, merged with Pedro Domecq to form Allied Domecq.3,7 In 2005 Pernod Ricard bought Allied Domecq, and the distillery passed to its Chivas Brothers business.3,6,7 In 2021 Chivas Brothers ran a heat recovery pilot here, part-funded by the Scottish Government, which cut energy use on a single pot still by 88%.8,9 During 2022 it became the first Chivas distillery to achieve carbon neutrality.6 On 19 July 2023 Chivas Brothers shared its heat recovery designs with the industry, after they cut the site's energy use by 48% and carbon emissions by 53%.
Next: Allied Domecq and Chivas Brothers, How it makes its spirit
Its water comes from the Rosarie Burn.3,4,5 It uses unpeated malt from Molson Coors at Burton.3 Its 6 washbacks, where wort, the sugary water from the mash, ferments into wash, are made of Oregon pine.3,6 Fermentation lasts 60 hours by one account and 56 hours by another.3,6 It has 3 wash stills for the first distillation and 3 spirit stills for the second.3,4,5 In 2024 it still relied on fossil-fueled boilers, though its heat recovery system cut how much it had to use them.3,9 Shell and tube condensers turn the vapour back into spirit.3 Sources differ on how much alcohol it can make a year: 4,500,000 litres or 4.1 million litres.3,4 Its set up of long ferments and slow distillation has always favoured flowers over earthy weight, and its spirit is described as floral and light.3,10
