Scotland’s first ‘single estate’ Scotch distilled

Scotland’s first “single estate” whisky is now being produced at the Ballindalloch Distillery in the Spey Valley.

Guy MacPherson-Grant has begun filling the first barrels of Ballindalloch Distillery’s single estate whisky

Housed on the ancient Ballindalloch estate, which has been in the ownership of the MacPherson-Grant family since the mid-16th century, the newly created distillery officially fired up the stills in September.

The first bottling of the Scotch is due to take place in the next eight to 10 years.

However, tours of the grand manor, the distillery, and tasting of the family’s private casks are now available as their first spirit production on the site reaches the cask-ageing stage.

Founder of the distillery, Guy MacPherson-Grant, told the Press and Journal that the “single estate” approach to his whisky is its USP.

“The main principle behind calling it a single estate whisky is that around 80% of the tradesmen, joiners, stonemasons, tilers and of course our distillers all come from within 20 miles of the distillery,” he told the newspaper.

Employing three people, the distillery was part of the recent Helping it Happen campaign that aimed to highlight how landowners can boost tourism in rural Scotland and provide jobs.

“Everything about the terroir, or in Gaelic the Àrainneachd, that the whisky is composed of is sourced from the estate.

“The water comes from the hills, the barley comes from the fields, the people that made the equipment, the people that make the whisky, and we even feed the draff from the distillery to the cattle that graze the estate’s fields, so the whisky really is all from our single estate,” he said.