Speyside
SpeysideSingle Malt Whisky
Speyside Distillery began production in 1990, after a particularly long and exhastive gestation period extending back thirty-four years to 1956 when the land for the distillery was bought by founder George Christie.
In the words of the distillery website:
Speyside Distillery was built following one man's dream to have his own malt whisky distillery. George Christie a well known merchant chose the tranquil spot at Tromie Mills, three miles from Kingussie to build his dream. The disused barley mill and croft dating back to the 1700's had been run for many generations by the McGregor family, the final milling being done by Alex McGregor in 1965. George Christie commissioned Alex Fairlie a dry stone dyker to build the distillery. Alex single-handedly laid all the stonework over a period of nearly 20 years and the distillery started production on 3rd December 1990. The old mill and water wheel were retained and are still in working order.
The distillery takes its name from the original Speyside Distillery in Kingussie which started in 1895 and only produced until 1905 before being demolished in 1911.
Christie sold The Speyside in 2000 to a group of private investors and the distillery today has a production capacity of around half a million litres/year. As well as the standard-issue 10yo bottling of the Speyside, the distillery also produces the Drumguish and Cu Dubh single malts (the latter a 'black' whisky in the style of the notorious Loch Dhu from Mannochmore).
