Speyburn was founded by John Hopkins in 1897, the diamond jubilee year of Queen Victoria. To make sure that whisky was distilled in the jubilee year, men worked through the night in a heavy snow storm in a still house without windows, managing to bond one single butt of 1897 Speyburn.

Nestled in a picturesque valley, close to Rothes, Speyburn has been purchased in 1916 by Distillers Company, which would become later the drinks giant Diageo. Speyburn was eventually acquired by Inver House Group in 1991.

The distillery has been at the cutting edge of distillation innovation and equipment. As early as the first decades in the 20th century, Speyburn was the first to use malting drums, which stopped working in 1968 and is also one of the very few distilleries to use traditional 'worm tubs' to condense the spirit vapour in to liquid, adding complexity to the final product.