Aberargie is a Lowland single malt distillery on the Morrison family's 300-acre farm, seven miles south of Perth.1,2,3 It filled its first cask in 2017, the family's return to distilling after Morrison Bowmore Distillers Ltd, owner of Bowmore, Auchentoshan and Glen Garioch, was sold to Suntory in 1994.1,2,3 The family firm Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers owns it today.2,4,5 It makes its whisky only from barley grown on the family's own land.2,6,7
A very promising first release, with cereal and orchard fruit on the nose, followed by walnut cake, spicy fruitcake, nougat, cinnamon and coffee.
Aberargie Inaugural (2026)
Before the distillery, the family had grown barley for maltsters on its farm at Aberargie for a number of years.1,8,9 In 2014 Brian, Kate and Jamie Morrison set up The Perth Distilling Company to build and run a distillery there.1,8,9 They kept it separate from Morrison & Mackay, a blending and bottling firm in which the family held a majority stake.1,8,9 Building began in June 2016, next to Morrison & Mackay's new bottling hall.1,8 In May 2017 Allan Anderson joined from Ireland's Great Northern Distillery as production director.9 After trials in October 2017, the first cask was filled on 1 November 2017.1,2,3
In 2020 Brian and Jamie Morrison took full ownership of Morrison & Mackay and renamed it Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers.2,4,5 The distillery, the whisky stock and the brands were brought together in that one firm.2,4,5
In 2017 Simpsons in Berwick-upon-Tweed malted its barley, and the distillery was set up for the occasional peated run, a batch made with peat-smoked malt.1,9 It grows Golden Promise, a heritage barley once favoured by leading Scotch producers in the 1960s and 70s.2,6,7 Golden Promise grows on the fields in front of the distillery, and in 2025 it also grew Laureate, a modern variety, on two other family farms.2,6,7 Its latest sowing was all Golden Promise.2,6,7 Golden Promise yields less than modern barley, but it gives a full-bodied, malty new spirit with notable oiliness, a 2025 report said.6
Water comes from a private well on the farm.1 Fermentation lasts 72 hours in 6 stainless steel washbacks, the tanks where it ferments.1 It has one onion-shaped wash still and one onion-shaped spirit still.1,3 Steam heats the stills, and shell and tube condensers turn the vapour back into spirit.1 It can make up to 750,000 litres of pure alcohol a year; spirit not meant for Aberargie single malt supplies the firm's whisky stock.1,5,9 The distillery says it ages its whisky in-house, only in first-fill casks, meaning casks filled with Scotch for the first time after holding another drink, such as bourbon or sherry.2
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