Craigellachie Distillery, Speyside

The name Craigellachie (pronounced Craig-ella-ki) means 'rocky hill' and refers to the cliff that overlooks the Spey. In fact, the nearby town of Craigellachie was built on this cliff in the mid 1700s. The location of the town in the heart of the Speyside, where the Fiddich meets the Spey and the district's main roads cross - between Dufftown, Aberlour and Rothes, is an excellent base-camp for those following the “whisky trail”.

The town has a bridge, a cooperage, and two distilleries. The Craigellachie distillery stands to the southeast of the Spey, northwest is Macallan. It was founded in 1888 by Peter J.Mackie, nicknamed Restless Peter, also the creator of the legendary White Horse blend and owner of the Lagavulin Distillery, in a joint venture with another important figure in the whisky world in those times: Alexander Edwards of the Benrinnes distillery.

It became part of Diageo and it was subsequently acquired by the Bacardi group. The single malt is full-flavoured, and fruity. Less than 2% of the production is released as single malt, the remaining is used in blends, particularly in Dewar's White Label. The only official version appeared in the Diageo's series Fauna & Flora, supplemented by bottlings from independent bottlers.