Benriach
The story of BenRiach - the Hill of the Red Deer, is typical of the great Speyside distilleries. Built in 1898, the distillery was sited amongst the rolling barley fields that rise to the foothills of the Grampian mountains. The barley used in crafting the whisky was grown around the distillery and the water was...and still is...drawn through the rock that lies deep below the distillery.
The barley harvested from the fields surrounding the distillery would be spread across the floors of the malting loft to germinate. Peat, cut from the hills above the distillery, fired the kiln and produced the heat required to control the germination process and the distinctive, peat scented smoke would be seen curling upwards from the malting chimneys throughout the year.
The distillery manager would oversee the slow and deliberate crafting process of BenRiach whisky - managing the transformation from malted barley to wash, to distilled spirit and into high quality oak casks, some sourced from the great sherry bodegas of Spain, in which the whisky would then peacefully rest and mature in the traditional long, low, earth floored warehouses adjacent to the stillhouse. This was the beginning of the BenRiach story.
