Glen Elgin distillery

Glen Elgin is a Scotch single malt whisky distillery in Fogwatt, Moray, set among rolling farmland and quiet roads. The distillery stands beside the Lossie Water, a river that once powered early mills in the area. Its buildings date from the late 19th century, when William Simpson and James Carle built the site in 1898. The stone stillhouse and mash house keep the same lines they had when whisky first flowed here. A single pair of gleaming copper pot stills dominates the production floor, turning malted barley and water into spirit. Glen Elgin’s whisky has been part of famous blends since the 1930s. Scottish Malt Distillers bought the distillery in 1936 and supplied malt for White Horse blends. From 1977 the distillery began releasing single malt expressions. In 1987 the owners became United Distillers, and ten years later the site joined Diageo after a merger with Guinness. Today the distillery focuses on its 12-year-old single malt. Visitors walk through the stillhouse where the spirit is distilled twice. The mash tun and washbacks sit in a long room lit by high windows. The warehouse holds casks maturing in cool Moray air. Outside, the Lossie Water glides past the back of the site, and fields stretch towards distant hills. The quiet surroundings let the slow work of whisky making be heard in every creak of wood and hum of machinery.