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The History of Aberfeldy Distillery

Originally established in 1896 by John Dewar & Sons Ltd, the Aberfeldy Distillery was opened in 1898. Located on Aberfeldy’s eastern outskirts, the distillery is on the upper Tay’s southern bank. The water source used by the Aberfeldy distillery is the Pitilie Burn that runs close to the distillery. It is the only Scottish distillery to use this water source.

Typical of most of the 19th century blending firms, John Dewar and Sons was an operation run by a man of humble origins who had become a wine merchant and then moved into blending whisky. Although the distillery was founded by John Dewar himself, it was his sons Thomas and John Junior who took the family firm to global recognition.

The site chosen for the distillery was only 2 miles from the birthplace of John Dewar senior, and and had once been a brewery, with some distillation having taken place during the early part of the 19th century. A private railway linked the distillery with the operational hub of the firm in Perth.

In 1925 Dewars became part of DCL and during the First World War the distillery temporarily closed its doors since barley was in demand as a foodstuff. For similar reasons, a second closure took place during the Second World War as barley supplies were cut however supply to markets was maintained by reducing the laid-up period of the whisky to 3 years from 7.

The distillery was extended in 1972 with the old stills being replaced with four brand new stills that were steam heated. In 1998 the ownership changed hands once more when Diageo, which had recently been formed, was forced by the UK Monopolies Board to offload a brand. Bacardi Martini purchased the Dewar’s estate together with ll of its blends for a million pounds.

A 12-year-old single malt was introduced in 1999 and in the following year Dewars World of Whisky was opened by the Earl of Elgin at the Aberfeldy Distillery. This centre markets the products as well as teaching the general public about the distillation process and the Dewar brand history. Aberfeldy remains the major malt whisky component used in Dewar’s Blending Whisky.

Today, the Aberfeldy distillery is still in operation and features two 16,500 litre wash stills and two 15,000 litre capacity spirit stills. These capacities set the distillery right in the middle of the pot still size range. Most recently, although Aberfeldy is primarily used in blends, a small amount has been sold as a single malt. 2014 saw a repackaging campaign and there are plans for a brand new 5 strong permanent range to be launched.