Alexander Edward began building Aultmore, Gaelic for 'big burn', in the parish of Keith in 1896, and it started making spirit on 24 May 1897.1,2,3 John Dewar & Sons Ltd. bought it in 1923.1,4,5 It was rebuilt in 1970 and 1971, and an expansion finished in 2024 doubled its production capacity.1,5,6
Charles C. Doig, a distillery architect from Elgin, drew up the plans in February 1896.1,4,7 Edward sold the land to the Aultmore Distillery Company, whose 4 partners included Robert and Walter Pattison, wine and spirits merchants in Leith.
A mix of creamy notes and tighter zesty elements; the nose is the highlight, while the whisky remains a quaffable, if somewhat simple, dram.
A very enjoyable and balanced dram, with fruity sweetness, moderate oak, warming spices and a good-length zesty citrus finish.
Like all distilleries, Aultmore closed from 1917 to 1919 because of the First World War and government restrictions.1 Extra washbacks were added in 1922 and 1923.1 In 1923 Dewar's paid £20,000 for Aultmore, and one history says the sale suggests it may already have mattered to Dewar's blends.1,4,5 In 1925 Dewar's merged with Buchanan's, Walker's and the Distillers Company Limited, and the group worked under the Distillers Company's name.1,4,8 In 1930 Aultmore moved to the group's subsidiary, Scottish Malt Distillers.1,5 Joseph Cumming, its manager, retired on 30 November 1938 after 40 years at the distillery.1 It closed from 1943 to 1945 to save barley during the Second World War.1
From 1952 Aultmore ran trials on recycling distillery waste, which produced a new type of dried, high-fibre animal feed.1,5 In 1967 its 2 pot stills switched from hand-fired furnaces to steam heating from a coal-fired boiler.1 In 1968 it stopped making its own malt and began to draw it from a Scottish Malt Distillers regional maltings.1,5 In 1969 Dr Beeching's railway reforms forced Aultmore to switch from steam power to electricity, retiring the steam engine after 70 years.1 From January 1970 to February 1971 it was closed and rebuilt, leaving nothing of the old buildings, and 2 more stills took the total to 4.1,4,5 In 1972 a plant was built to make distillers' dark grains, a cattle feed of draff, a waste product of whisky making, and syrup from pot ale.1,5 In 1981 Aultmore was among the distilleries that closed for 2 extra summer months to cut production.1 The dark grains plant closed in 1985, ran again from 1989 until 1993, and was then taken out of production.1
In 1986 Guinness bought the Distillers Company.1,8 Guinness combined it with Arthur Bell & Sons to form United Distillers.1,4 In 1996 the warehouses were demolished, and all spirit was taken away by tanker to be matured centrally.1,9 In 1997 United Distillers merged with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo.1,4,8 In 1998 Diageo was forced to sell the Dewar's business, and Bacardi Limited bought it with Aultmore.1,4,5 It is said Bacardi would have walked away from the deal without Aultmore, a prized blending malt.1,4,5 In 2002 a new mash house was built, and a new lauter tun replaced the old mash tun from the 1960s or 1970s.1 In December 2022 Bacardi announced a £15m plan to double production capacity by spring 2024, adding fermenters and pot stills.3,10 The work added a new tun room, still house and boiler house, and thermal vapour recompression, which captures and reuses vapour to save energy and water.6,11
In 2014 Aultmore had 6 wooden washbacks.4,9 Fermentations then lasted 56 hours.4,9 In 2014 it had 2 wash stills and 2 spirit stills.4,9 Whisky Magazine described those stills in 2014 as plain in shape, and Whiskypedia lists steam heating.4,9 Whiskypedia says the stills are fairly small, with downward lyne arms; running them slowly helps to maximise reflux, but their shape lets some heavier elements come across.4,9 Whiskypedia lists shell and tube condensers.4 Whiskypedia lists its malt as plain malt with zero phenols, from the malt supplier Simpsons.
Every bottle in Peated with a vintage year.
Bottles in Peated distilled at Aultmore, by release year.
| Year distilled | Bottles |
|---|---|
| 1996 | 1 |
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2021 | 4 |
| 2022 | 9 |
| 2023 | 8 |
| 2024 | 4 |
| 2025 | 5 |
| 2026 | 4 |
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