Glentauchers

The Glentauchers Distillery is situated in the Speyside, just a few miles from Keith at the road to Craigellachie. There’s no visitor center at Glentauchers and this may be one reason why the distillery is not very well known. But the more important reason is probably that there are very few bottlings of Glentauchers Single Malt Whisky: almost the whole production is used for Blended Whisky.

Information about the Distillery
190 Bottles
Scotland, Speyside
-3.050322 57.534405
Active
Pernod Ricard
12 t
1898
2,050,000 l
Average tasting notes Tasting notes
Calculated from 271 Tasting Notes
i
Nosing
Sweet:
Fruit:
Sweet:
Sherry:
Vanilla:
Herbs:
Spices:
Vanilla:
Sherry:
Pear:
Nuts:
Zitrus:
Chocolate:
Chocolate:
Herbs:
Fruit:
Heather:
Pear:
Raisin:
Caramel:
Heather:
Nuts:
Honey:
Spices:
Caramel:
Herb:
Oak:
Herb:
Zitrus:
Peat Smoke:
Raisin:
Malt:
Orange:
Malt:
Oak:
Apple:
Honey:
Floral:
Dried Fruit:
Ginger:
Almonds:
Almonds:
Ginger:
Grass:
Dark Chocolate:
Dark Chocolate:
Apple:
Cinnamon:
Cherry:
Berries:
Dried Fruit:
Alcohol:
Peat Smoke:
Floral:
Pineapple:
Pineapple:
Melon:
Cherry:
Blackberry:
Peach:
Tobacco:
Grass:
Orange:
Peach:
Tobacco:
Hazelnut:
Hazelnut:
Tropical Fruit:
Anis:
Alcohol:
Tropical Fruit:
Berries:
Mint:
Mint:
Cinnamon:
Banana:
Banana:
Plum:
Fig:
Plum:
Fig:
Green Apple:
Date:
Chili:
Melon:
Pepper:
Green Apple:
Cake:
Clove:
Kiwi:
Lime:
Strawberry:
Chili:
Leather:
Hay:
Cake:
Barley:
Grape:
Coffee:
Lemon:
Grape:
Wheat:
Oil:
Barley:
Hay:
Leather:
Pepper:
Coffee:
Lemon:
Lime:
Date:
Kiwi:
Wheat:
Oil:
Clove:
Nutmeg:
Nutmeg:
Strawberry:
Tasting
Spices:
Sweet:
Fruit:
Sweet:
Spices:
Fruit:
Sherry:
Pepper:
Zitrus:
Nuts:
Chocolate:
Zitrus:
Herb:
Chocolate:
Herb:
Oak:
Pepper:
Oak:
Oil:
Dark Chocolate:
Dark Chocolate:
Orange:
Sherry:
Malt:
Orange:
Caramel:
Oil:
Raisin:
Cherry:
Vanilla:
Almonds:
Chili:
Chili:
Vanilla:
Raisin:
Melon:
Apple:
Herbs:
Peach:
Kiwi:
Malt:
Plum:
Peat Smoke:
Plum:
Almonds:
Apple:
Berries:
Berries:
Melon:
Banana:
Tropical Fruit:
Banana:
Caramel:
Kiwi:
Herbs:
Honey:
Date:
Honey:
Alcohol:
Coffee:
Alcohol:
Peach:
Tropical Fruit:
Dried Fruit:
Clove:
Floral:
Floral:
Dried Fruit:
Clove:
Pineapple:
Nuts:
Pineapple:
Lemon:
Cherry:
Barley:
Cinnamon:
Barley:
Lemon Peel:
Lemon:
Cinnamon:
Pear:
Lemon Peel:
Grapefruit:
Ginger:
Grapefruit:
Ginger:
Hay:
Heather:
Heather:
Leather:
Lime:
Lime:
Leather:
Coffee:
Pear:
Green Apple:
Nutmeg:
Ham:
Fig:
Peat Smoke:
Nutmeg:
Ham:
Fig:
Green Apple:
Finish
Spices:
Oak:
Sweet:
Spices:
Fruit:
Oak:
Pepper:
Sherry:
Sweet:
Pepper:
Nuts:
Fruit:
Herb:
Sherry:
Herbs:
Malt:
Chocolate:
Herbs:
Herb:
Honey:
Peat Smoke:
Malt:
Zitrus:
Heather:
Oil:
Vanilla:
Zitrus:
Raisin:
Heather:
Mint:
Chili:
Alcohol:
Nuts:
Berries:
Tobacco:
Orange:
Mint:
Chili:
Chocolate:
Coffee:
Orange:
Honey:
Almonds:
Almonds:
Fig:
Peat Smoke:
Dried Fruit:
Oil:
Dark Chocolate:
Raisin:
Alcohol:
Caramel:
Fig:
Maritime Notes:
Cinnamon:
Dark Chocolate:
Cherry:
Coffee:
Date:
Maritime Notes:
Vanilla:
Cinnamon:
Dried Fruit:
Caramel:
Cherry:
Salt:
Plum:
Salt:
Date:
Tropical Fruit:
Iodine:
Floral:
Clove:
Blackberry:
Iodine:
Blackberry:
Floral:
Grass:
Tropical Fruit:
Berries:
Pineapple:
Lemon:
Leather:
Grass:
Clove:
Lemon:
Plum:
Barley:
Leather:
Pineapple:
Tobacco:
Barley:
Details about the Distillery

The Glentauchers Distillery is situated in the Speyside, just a few miles from Keith at the road to Craigellachie. There’s no visitor center at Glentauchers and this may be one reason why the distillery is not very well known. But the more important reason is probably that there are very few bottlings of Glentauchers Single Malt Whisky: almost the whole production is used for Blended Whisky.

The Whisky

Glentauchers Whisky is said to be a key component in the blends Ballantine’s and Teacher’s and there’s one other blend Glentauchers is closely related to: The founder of the distillery, James Buchanan is the father of Black&White as well. There has only been released one official bottling of Glentauchers Single Malt Whisky by the distillery itself which was a 15 year old Whisky in the year 2000. Gordon & MacPhail, Duncan Taylor, Douglas Laing and some smaller independent bottlers offer releases of this Speysider, but Glentauchers is still not a Single Malt that is often seen.

In its character the Glentauchers Whisky shows fruity, malty and sweet aromas.

Production

Distillation at Glentauchers is done with pot stills as it is usual for Malt Whisky production in Scotland. But this distillery was one of a few that made some experiments with producing malt Whisky by continuous distillation. This was in 1910, but experiments were soon ended without satisfying results and the distillery concentrates on its pot still distillation. The output of Glentauchers had been 1.9 million liters in 2000 although the capacity of production is about the double.

Malting isn’t done at Glentauchers since 1963 when the malting floors were mothballed.

The Mashing

The water for mashing the malt is taken from Rosarie Burn that flows into the River Spey. The mash tun is covered with a copper lid and can be filled with about 12 tons of malt.

The Fermentation

The six wash backs of Glentauchers are made of Oregon pine and have a volume of 360.000 liters altogether.

The Distillation

Three wash stills and three spirit stills are the heart of the Glentauchers Distillery. They are pear-shaped and are standing side by side in the still house.

The History

When in 1897 James Buchanan and W.P. Lowrie, Blender in Glasgow, founded the Glentauchers Distillery Whisky boomed. Buchanan was not familiar with the processes of making Whisky, blending and selling it. But he was confident and determined and had chosen a very favorable place for the distillerie: It was next to a main road and the railway line was at the back that could be used by the construction of a siding. When James Buchanan & Co. Ltd became sole holder of Glentauchers in 1908 he already had become very successful with his Buchanan Blends. 1910 saw the merge of the Buchanan and Dewar groups and the company became part of the DCL (Distillery Company Limited). 

In 1923-1925 extensive renovations were done. A steam engine was purchased in 1955, electricity installed in 1958 and four new stills installed in 1965/66. During the World War I the distillery was closed. In 1985 United Distillers took over Glentauchers and mothballed it again. 

Allied Distillers acquired Glentauchers in 1989 and since then the distillery has been producing again. Allied Distillers became part of Pernod Ricard in 2005 and therefore Glentauchers today is under control of their British subsidiary Chivas Brothers.

Visitor Center

There’s no visitor center at Glentauchers and the distillery is not opened to the public.

Visitor information

Glentauchers Distillery
Mulben
Moray
AB55 6YL

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