Ruggedly beautiful, Benriach stands on the site of the old Riach farm in north Speyside. The distillery was established by serial whisky entrepreneur John Duff in 1898 which was operational for just 2 years before the ‘Pattison crash’ in 1900 and remained silent for 65 years but it still produced malt for its sister distillery – Longmorn Distillery.
In 1965, BenRiach resumed its production after a successful renovation, whilst trying to preserve the same period features and character, such as its rich full-bodied flavours. Over the following few decades, the distillery went through substantial changes including changing hands – finally ending up with Brown-Forman Corporation in 2016. In 2017 industry veteran Dr. Rachel Barrie joined the team as its Master Blender (one of the few female Master Blenders in the Scotch world) with the task of bringing 3 ‘underdog’ distilleries under the ownership of Brown-Forman to wider acclaim – BenRiach, Glenglassaugh and Glendronach.
Seven of Benriach’s magnificent malts won Double Gold at the 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Awards. The fraught history of the distillery perfectly captures the untold unpredictability of the world of whisky.
Region: Speyside
Area: Moray
Current Owner: The BenRiach Distillery Company (Brown-Forman)
Founded : 1898
Founder : John Duff
No. of wash stills: 2
No. of spirit stills: 2
Capacity (litres): 2,000,000.00
Website: www.benriachdistillery.co.uk
English