Linkwood Distillery, Speyside

Peter Brown established the Linkwood distillery in 1821 and the first distillation took place in 1824. After his death, his son, William Brown cemented the reputation of the distillery over the next 30 years.

In 1936 the distillery was taken over by the Distillers Company (now Diageo) and like many other distilleries, it was closed during World War II. After the war, Roderick Mackenzie reopened the distillery and stayed in helm for the next 18 years.

Mackenzie was a passionate believer in the qualities that the distillery could draw from its tradition and heritage, so he resisted any change at Linkwood, and even forbade the removal of even spider webs. Nevertheless in 1971 Linkwood tripled its production capacity. Despite these alterations, the Linkwood distillery has always kept its traditional character.

The distillery was closed from 1985 up to 1990 when the old side reopened for production a few months per year. Only 1 or 2% of the production is marketed as single malt, the remaining being used in the blends of the Diageo group such as Haig, Bells and Dimple and Jonnie Walker.

Speyside Whisky

To some Speyside represents the jewel in whisky’s crown. Speyside is the home of legal whisky production and it’s best known examples. Around the world Glenlivet, Macallan, Glenfiddich, Glenrothes and Glenfarclas typify all that whisky, at it’s best has to offer. At it’s heart running from the Monadhliath mountains north to the sea, is the River Spey. It is the fastest flowing river in Britain, and also well known for its salmon fishing.

Speyside is the principal whisky-producing region: Speyside has within it some forty-six operating distilleries - over half the total number in the entire Scotland.

Speysides are essentially sweet whiskies. They have little peaty character They are typically highly perfumed, feminine and elegant.

The classical nature of Speyside’s malts means that a number of the finest malts are used almost exclusively for blending. It is the top Speysider’s that give good blends their ‘Top Dressing’. 

Malts such as Mortlach, Glen Elgin, Strathmill and Benrinnes are rarely found as distillery bottlings, however when individual casks are tracked down by independent bottlers such as our Own Selection Single Malt Whiskies the resultant whisky can be quite wonderful.