Strathisla distillery
Strathisla Distillery
Strathisla is a whiskey distillery in Keith, Speyside, Scotland. Since 1995, the distillery is owned by Chivas Brothers Ltd.. for Pernod Ricard, France. The distillery founded in 1786 and is the oldest in operation located Speyside. The name derives from the River Isla, which flows near the distillery. It lies on Scotland's Whisky Trail and is open from March to October visitors. The distillery buildings are sorted in the Scottish lists of monuments in the highest category A.
History
In 1786, George Taylor and Alexander Milne founded the distillery today under the name of Milltown or Milton, which was acquired in 1830 by William Longmore. In the 1870s, then, the distillery was renamed Strathisla. Some six years later, a fire broke out and damaged large parts of the distillery. 1890, the distillery was renamed in Milton.
George Jay Pomeroy, owner of the distillery in 1949 had, for tax evasion jail and thus brought the existence of the distillery in danger. The company Chivas Brothers Ltd.. took over after an auction, the distillery and called them again Strathisla. 1965 were added to the two stills two more.
In 1995, the acquisition by the Group Pernod Ricard.
Production
The water comes from the Broomhill Spring near the distillery. The distillery has a mash tun ( 4.84 tons ) of stainless steel fermentation tanks and eleven ( per 24,500 liters) of Douglas fir wood. The whiskey is distilled in two wash stills each with downstream spirit still. For the bearings sherry and bourbon casks are used. It is one of the smaller distilleries on the Whisky Trail and has a production capacity of 2.4 million liters / year.
Products
- A single malt is matured for twelve years, is the main product of the distillery. There is this also in maturity levels in 8, 18 and 21 years.
- Several special bottlings that are not made directly by the distillery in part. Such as the 25 year old Strathisla, which is bottled by Gordon & MacPhail.
- A blend called Chivas Regal, which accounts for another large part of the production.
Tourism
The distillery is open from 21 March to end of October for visitors as a guided tour.
Trivia
On 15 June 1993, a black and white cat was found in a shipment of bourbon barrels from Kentucky. She was baptized in the name Dizzy. It was named the cat, as they tottered after opening the shipping container to fresh air. Reason for this was probably the malnutrition after the four week trip, and not least the bourbon vapors that escaped the barrels. After six months of quarantine, Dizzy was hired as a mouser at Chivas Brothers.