Tullibardine is a malt whisky distillery in Blackford, opened in 1949 on the old Gleneagles Brewery site.1,2,3 It was the first distillery built in Scotland since 1900.1,2,3 After a decade of silence, it made spirit again from December 2003.3,4,5 Picard Vins & Spiritueux, a French family firm, has owned it since 2011.3,5,6
A very fine whisky with lovely dryness, combining toasted hazelnuts and chocolate with salty, mustardy notes and an earthy, Madeira-like finish.
An adventurous, highly Port-influenced whisky with peppery raspberry liqueur, polish and curious shampoo-like notes; amusing but quite deviant.
A strikingly natural dram, with kirsch, fresh almond, herbal lemon, barley syrup and a surprisingly salty character that lingers beautifully.
In 1488 King James IV bought beer at a brewery on the site, recorded as the first public purchase of beer in Scotland.3 Earlier Tullibardine distilleries had worked in the area: one opened in 1798 and ran for a year, and another ran from 1814 until 1837.1,4,7 Gleneagles Brewery, on the later distillery site, kept brewing until 1927, after Blackford's 2 other breweries had closed.4
After tuberculosis ruled out war service, William Delmé-Evans studied whisky-making and planned an up-to-date gravity-flow distillery.3,4,8 In 1947 he found the water from springs in the nearby Ochil Hills right for distilling, bought the old brewery, and began rebuilding it.3,4,8 The distillery opened in 1949; a heritage record names CI Barrett alongside Delmé-Evans for the conversion.1,2,3 Its water comes from the Ochil Hills and the Danny Burn.3,6,8 When he died, his Scotsman obituary said the burn water he picked was used for Highland Spring mineral water.3,6,8 The distillery says he named it after a small medieval chapel nearby, and that the name means 'lookout hill' in Gaelic.1,2,3 The Courier has instead said it takes its name from Tullibardine village, or from a long-gone 19th-century farm distillery there.1,2,3 In 1953 Delmé-Evans sold it to Glasgow whisky brokers Brodie Hepburn, who increased its capacity.1,4,8
Invergordon Distillers bought Brodie Hepburn in 1971, and Tullibardine with it.1,2,4 In 1973 Invergordon began rebuilding the distillery, taking it from two to four stills.1,2,4 In these years it made a light, nutty malt, mostly used young, after ageing in refill casks, for blends that buyers sold as their own.1,4 Whyte & Mackay bought Invergordon Distillers in 1993.1,4
Whyte & Mackay promptly mothballed the distillery but kept its warehouses.1,3,6 Sources give 1993, 1994, or 1995 as the year production stopped.1,3,6 The distillery lay silent until 2003.3,4,9
Every bottle in Peated with a vintage year.
Bottles in Peated distilled at Tullibardine, by release year.
| Year distilled | Bottles |
|---|---|
| 1987 | 1 |
| 2017 | 1 |
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2021 | 8 |
| 2022 | 8 |
| 2023 | 5 |
| 2024 | 6 |
| 2025 | 11 |
| 2026 | 10 |
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In June 2003 four businessmen, including Michael Beamish and Douglas Ross, bought it for £1.1m through their consortium, Tullibardine Ltd.4,5,6 A press report named Kyndal as the previous owner; Kyndal was formed in 2001 from a management buyout of the Jim Beam Brands Greater Europe business.4,5,6 They planned to sell part of the site for a retail park and use the money to restart distilling.4,5,6 Production resumed in December 2003, with distillery manager John Black overseeing the restart.5,6,10 The new owners found most of the stock in old, tired casks and began moving it into other casks.4
In November 2011 the investors sold it to Picard, based in Burgundy, which owned the Highland Queen brand and wanted more capacity.3,5,6 Picard had bought malt from Tullibardine for the three years before.3,5,6 In 2013 Picard set up Terroirs Distillers for its spirits, and Tullibardine now runs under it.1,6 That year Picard bought back the Eaglesgate shopping centre beside the distillery, the retail park the investors had planned.3,4,7 Its shops became warehouses, a blending and bottling plant, and a cooperage with its own cooper.3,4,7 Picard spent millions on the site from 2013, and a later Courier report says 2 of its 4 stills had been renewed.3,4,7 In 2017 Keith Geddes became Tullibardine's first master blender, in charge of all its products.11 In March 2025 Minnie Parmiter became distillery manager, taking over from David Myles, who retired after 20 years there.12,13
Tullibardine's malt is made off-site, but every other step, from milling to bottling, happens on site.7,14 The distillery lists 10 washbacks, the vessels used for fermenting; a Courier report counts nine.7,14 That report describes steel washbacks and a fermentation of around 60 hours.7 It has 2 wash stills for the first distillation and 2 spirit stills for the second.6,7 Its distiller calls the new spirit a light Highland style.13
