Mortlach Distillery

Mortlach Distillery stands beside the River Fiddich in Dufftown, Moray. Founded in 1823, it is one of Scotland’s oldest legal distilleries. The site once housed an illicit still before James Findlater secured the first licence. For decades it supplied only local gentry from casks carried by pack pony over rough tracks. William Grant, later of Glenfiddich, worked here for twenty years before moving on. The distillery’s whisky appears in Johnnie Walker blends and is now sold as four single malts. Alexander Mitchell Cowie expanded the works in the 1890s with architect Charles Doig, installing electric light and a railway siding. In 1923 John Walker and Sons bought the site, and it later became part of Diageo. A 1989 Mortlach single malt won Whisky of the Year in 2023. Visitors walk past the stillhouse where the 2.81 distillation process runs. The shop sells limited editions such as The Katana’s Edge and The Lure of the Blood Moon. Beyond the buildings lie rolling Speyside hills and the quiet river. The air carries the scent of malt and oak.