Teaninich was founded in Alness, Ross-shire, in 1817 by the blind Captain Hugh Munro.1,2,3Diageo has owned it since 1997.3,4 In 2000 it fitted a mash filter, then the only one working in a Scottish malt distillery.3,4,5
Mediocre review score, 77 out of 100Mediocre77/100
Rich raisins, figs and prunes meet caramelized brown sugar and apple tart, but the whisky is ultimately a little rough and unbalanced.
baked apple
black pepper
brown sugar
fig
+12 more
By Ruben
Producing, 1991–today
1817185019001950Today
Built by the Blind Captain
Munro built it in November 1817 with two stills, to keep his tenant farmers out of smuggling by giving them a local market for their grain.1,2,3 The Excise Act of 1823 made it easier to run a distillery in the Highlands, and Teaninich prospered under the new rules.6 By 1830 production was up 30-fold, and around then Hugh sold the estate to his younger brother, Lieutenant General John Munro.1,3,4 Iain Russell writes instead that the brother inherited the distillery when Hugh died in 1846.1,3,4
Sources disagree: when it opened. This page uses 1817.
In 1850 John Munro, often on service in India, leased it to Robert Pattison, and in 1869 John McGilchrist Ross took over the lease.1,3,4 In 1887 Alfred Barnard found it the only distillery north of Inverness lit by electricity, with peat-fired kilns and an output of 80,000 gallons a year.1,7,8 In 1895 Robert Innes Cameron and another John Munro, of the Elgin blenders Munro & Cameron, took over the lease.1,3,4 In 1898 Cameron took a stake, and Munro & Cameron bought the site and renovated and extended the distillery.3,4 Cameron became sole owner in 1904.1,3
Two still houses
Barley shortages stopped production from 1939 until 1946, when two stills were removed and larger ones installed.1,3,4 In 1962 electricity replaced steam and water power at the stillhouse, and the pair of stills was doubled.1,4 In 1970 a new building, the A Side, began working with six stills, while the four older stills kept running.1,2,4 The old side's milling, mashing and fermentation equipment was rebuilt in 1973, and in 1975 a plant was added to turn waste into cattle feed.1,3,4 The original B Side was mothballed in 1984, and the A Side shut down in 1985, ending production for a time.1
Mash filter and expansion
With a hammer mill, the filter takes the place of a mash tun, the single vessel most distilleries mash in, to make ultra-clear wort for fermenting.3,4,5 ScotchWhisky.com says that clear wort hints at the spirit's fragrant exotic grassiness, and that its fat stills add oiliness.4 In 2013 Diageo announced a separate £50 million distillery with 16 stills next door, with its own name, but then postponed it.3,4,9 Diageo said malt from both the new distillery and an expanded Teaninich would go into its blended Scotch brands.3,4,9 In 2014 a further six stills and eight washbacks were installed, and ScotchWhisky.com reported that capacity doubled to 10m litres of pure alcohol a year.
After his death his trustees sold it in 1933 to Scottish Malt Distillers, and Whiskypedia lists the Distillers Company Limited as owner until 1986.1,3,4
Sources disagree: when Munro & Cameron took over. This page uses 1898.
It has 6 wash stills and 6 spirit stills.3 The stills have a ball shape and are heated by steam.4 Shell and tube condensers cool the still vapour, and its water comes from the Dairy Well Spring.3,4 It uses unpeated malt.4 Fermentation in its wooden washbacks lasts at least 75 hours.4
Mediocre review score, 77 out of 100