Balblair is a distillery near Edderton, where John Ross began distilling in 1790.1,2,3 His family ran it for 100 years.1,2,3 It made no whisky from 1911 to 1949, and Inver House has owned it since 1996.1,2,4
In 1798 John Ross took over the lease of Balblair Farm and set about turning a small pot still into a bigger business.2 In 1817 he was sequestrated, or made bankrupt, but he soon recovered.2 His son Andrew joined him in 1824.1,2,5 John Ross made 2,285 gallons of whisky in 1822, and by 1833 Balblair made 8,573 gallons a year.2 After Andrew moved to Brora, John Ross went back to distilling with a partner from Tain until his death in 1836.2 In 1872 Ross & Son enlarged the distillery uphill, with the maltings at the top, and the old building became a bonded warehouse for storing whisky.2,6 Andrew Ross died in 1873, leaving his son James Ross to run it on his own.2 When Alfred Barnard visited in 1887, the ground malt (grist) and the sugary worts drained from it moved by gravity, so no pumps were needed.2,6 He recorded an output of 50,000 gallons a year of Highland malt, sold mostly in Glasgow, Leith and Aberdeen.2,6
A new site by the railway
In 1894 James Ross gave up the tenancy to Alexander Cowan, an Inverness wine merchant, who took a new 60-year lease.1,2,3 Balblair's own history says Cowan built offices, a still house, mash house, kiln and barns.1,2,3 In 1895 the distillery moved half a mile north to a new site near the railway, which brought coal and barley.1,2,4 Wikipedia names the designer Charles C Doig for the rebuild.1,2,4
Sources disagree: the date. This page uses 1895.
1895: Balblair Distillery, The Gazetteer for Scotland, ScotchWhisky.com (Whiskypedia), Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
Silent
1911–1949
The 1909 Budget raised the licence fee and spirit duty, and in 1911 Cowan was sequestrated.1,2,4 Production stopped, and much of the whisky and plant was taken to meet his debts.1,2,4 The last of the whisky left the warehouses in 1932.1,2,3 In 1939 the British Army commandeered the buildings for the Second World War, and the Norwegian Army moved in.1,3 When the Balnagowan estate was declared bankrupt in 1941, the distillery was put up for sale.2,7
Bertie Cumming
In 1948 Robert 'Bertie' Cumming, a Banff solicitor who owned Old Pulteney, bought Balblair for £48,000.1,2,3 In 1949 it made whisky for the first time since before the First World War.1,2,4 In 1964 Cumming added warehouses and an oil-fired steam boiler, and switched the coal-fired stills to steam heating.1,2,3 He added two more washbacks, the vessels where fermentation happens, and mashing rose to up to 16-17 a week, four times the rate under Cowan.1,2,3
Sources disagree: when Robert Cumming took over. This page uses 1948.
Next: Bertie Cumming, Owned by larger firms, John MacDonald's years, How it makes its spirit
In 1970 Cumming retired and sold Balblair to Hiram Walker & Sons Limited, owner of the Ballantine's blend, in which Balblair was important.1,2,4 Under Cumming, most of its whisky had gone to blenders, including Bell's, Whyte & Mackay and Hiram Walker.1,2,4 In 1988 Hiram Walker merged with Allied Vintners to form Allied Distillers.2,4 In 1996 Inver House Distillers Ltd. bought Balblair from Allied Domecq, a year after buying Pulteney from the same firm.1,4,5 In 2006 Inver House became part of International Beverage Holdings, the international arm of ThaiBev.3,8,9
Sources disagree: when International Beverage Holdings took over. This page uses 2006.
John MacDonald became distillery manager in August 2006, after 17 years at Glenmorangie.10,11 A visitor centre opened in 2011.7,10 MacDonald led a programme that moved the distillery away from heavy fuel.10,11 In 2023 it installed a thermal vapour recompression (TVR) system, which reuses waste heat from distilling.11 International Beverage says this saves about 30% of the fossil fuel used in wash distillation.11 In 2024 David Rogerson, assistant distillery manager at Speyburn, took over as distillery manager.10,11
How it makes its spirit
Its water comes from the Allt Dearg Burn.3,7,11 Floor malting stopped after 1970, and it now buys malt from Crisp, Bairds and Boort, peated to 1.5ppm, a measure of peat smoke.2,3,12 It has 6 wooden washbacks.3,4,11 Fermentation lasts 62 hours.3,11,12 It runs one wash still and one spirit still, and in 2003 a third, riveted still was disconnected and out of use.4,5,7 The pot stills have squat necks and are heated by steam.4,11,12 Shell and tube condensers cool the still vapour.3,11 It can make 1.6 million litres of alcohol a year.2,3,11 Balblair calls its new spirit light, yet complex.3,12 ScotchWhisky.com says the aim is a richly fruity new spirit, through clear worts, long fermentation in wooden washbacks and small, stumpy stills.3,12 Its kiln is a Category C listed building.13
Very good review score, 85 out of 100