Aultmore distillery

Aultmore distillery stands beside the Auchinderran burn near Keith in Moray. Its name comes from the Gaelic for ‘big burn’, and the burn still feeds the whisky-making process today. Founded in 1895 by Alexander Edward, the distillery began with a waterwheel before switching to a steam engine that ran continuously for seven decades. That engine now sits on display inside the site. The distillery doubled its output after an 1898 expansion, but early ownership changes brought closures and wartime pauses. The site has passed through many hands: Pattisons in 1899, John Dewar & Sons in 1923, Distiller Company in 1925, and Scottish Malt Distillers in 1930. In the 1950s it pioneered the use of draff as animal feed, turning a waste product into a resource. The malting floors closed in 1968 and the distillery was rebuilt in 1970 with new stills, reopening the following year. Bacardi’s Dewar subsidiary regained control in 1998 and released the first official 12-year-old bottling in 2004. Visitors find the steam engine on show beside the stillhouse where the whisky is made. The old waterwheel site remains visible, and the Auchinderran burn still flows through the grounds. The rebuilt distillery of the 1970s houses the new spirit and wash stills alongside the original pair. The malting floors are gone, but the working distillery continues to produce single malt. The surrounding Moray landscape and the Keith area add to the visit.