Linkwood

Peter Brown founded the distillery in 1821. At its inception, the site had only two stills, and Whisky operation wasn't entirely legal yet. The distillery formally began operations in 1825, after Whisky distillation was legalized. Brown's original distillery operated with only one wash still and one spirit still.

Information about the Distillery
312 Bottles
Scotland, Speyside
-3.286931 57.635771
Active
Diageo
12 t
1821
3,500,000 l
Average tasting notes Tasting notes
Calculated from 550 Tasting Notes
i
Nosing
Sweet:
Fruit:
Sherry:
Vanilla:
Spices:
Oak:
Zitrus:
Herbs:
Caramel:
Malt:
Nuts:
Floral:
Apple:
Honey:
Chocolate:
Peat Smoke:
Pear:
Berries:
Raisin:
Dried Fruit:
Cherry:
Peach:
Green Apple:
Plum:
Oil:
Orange:
Herb:
Cinnamon:
Alcohol:
Lemon:
Hay:
Grape:
Lemon Peel:
Fig:
Tropical Fruit:
Heather:
Almonds:
Blackberry:
Tobacco:
Dark Chocolate:
Mint:
Pineapple:
Grapefruit:
Banana:
Date:
Ginger:
Nutmeg:
Anis:
Cake:
Leather:
Lime:
Clove:
Grass:
Melon:
Strawberry:
Kiwi:
Medicinal Smoke:
Chili:
Barley:
Maritime Notes:
Salt:
Wheat:
Pepper:
Tasting
Sweet:
Fruit:
Spices:
Sherry:
Oak:
Nuts:
Zitrus:
Caramel:
Oil:
Chocolate:
Honey:
Malt:
Peat Smoke:
Herb:
Vanilla:
Raisin:
Pepper:
Herbs:
Cinnamon:
Dark Chocolate:
Lemon:
Dried Fruit:
Apple:
Alcohol:
Banana:
Hazelnut:
Lemon Peel:
Pear:
Almonds:
Grape:
Orange:
Floral:
Tobacco:
Plum:
Ginger:
Berries:
Tropical Fruit:
Clove:
Chili:
Heather:
Cherry:
Barley:
Leather:
Pineapple:
Wheat:
Peach:
Anis:
Blackberry:
Mint:
Fig:
Green Apple:
Coffee:
Cake:
Nutmeg:
Lime:
Grass:
Grapefruit:
Maritime Notes:
Salt:
Strawberry:
Date:
Hay:
Melon:
Medicinal Smoke:
Finish
Spices:
Oak:
Sweet:
Fruit:
Sherry:
Malt:
Herb:
Zitrus:
Nuts:
Chocolate:
Peat Smoke:
Pepper:
Dark Chocolate:
Herbs:
Vanilla:
Oil:
Heather:
Almonds:
Dried Fruit:
Apple:
Floral:
Clove:
Caramel:
Tobacco:
Chili:
Fig:
Coffee:
Grape:
Ginger:
Cinnamon:
Orange:
Berries:
Alcohol:
Green Apple:
Raisin:
Pear:
Nutmeg:
Lemon:
Leather:
Salt:
Grapefruit:
Peach:
Tropical Fruit:
Medicinal Smoke:
Maritime Notes:
Lemon Peel:
Mint:
Honey:
Plum:
Strawberry:
Cherry:
Lime:
Hazelnut:
Seaweed:
Blackberry:
Grass:
Pineapple:
Cake:
Details about the Distillery

The Whisky

A brick wall with the Letters Linkwood placed on themThe Speyside distillery of Linkwood has a very slim selection of official bottlings for prospective buyers to choose from. Official releases from the distillery have been very rare, and mainly limited to Diago's Flora and Fauna range, as well as United Distiller's Rare Malts range. There have also been a number of independent bottlings of Linkwood by such bottlers as Gordon & MacPhail, Duncan Taylor and Douglas Laing.

The vast majority of the spirit distilled at Linkwood is used is such Diageo-owned Blends as Johnnie Walker and White Horse. However, the distillery also sells of much of the spirit to other blenders.

The Production

The parking lot infront of the stillhous of the Linkwood distilleryLinkwood draws the water used in its production from the Milbules Spring, which flows beside the distillery. The production capacity of the distillery stands at an impressive 3.5 million liters a year. The distillery has gone through a series of renovations and refurbishments. In 1971, a second still house was built, which uses six large washbacks, as opposed to the older distillery, which uses five smaller ones.

The Pot Stills

The pot stills of the Linkwood distilleryLinkwood distillery has three wash and three spirit stills. The wash stills each have a capacity of 15'000 liters, while the spirit stills each have a capacity of 17'000. Both the wash and spirit stills have a pear shape, with large, spherical lids, and tall conical necks. The spirit stills spherical lids are wider than that of their wash counterparts, allowing for slightly different distillation flow in the still. The distillery is one of very few in Scotland that has not one but two still houses. Today, only one is used, with the original house having lain silent since 1996. The second still house was added in 1971 to increase the distillery's production capacity. Rumors say, that the second still house was started again for production.

The Maltings

The Mashtun of the Linkwood distilleryOriginally, the distillery used its own floor maltings, but now the distillery sources its malts from one of Diageo's industrial sources in Speyside. Linkwood distillery uses a combination of peated and unpeated malts, which are used for different distillation process, depending on the destination of the single malt being distilled.

The Warehouse

A cask inside the Linkwood warehouseLinkwood has a series of onsite warehouses, which are both dunnage and racked. Littlewood is aged in a combination of American Oak and Spanish Sherry casks,  which are selected from a series of distilleries and vintners in America and Spain that the distillery has a long-standing relationship with.

The History

Peter Brown founded the distillery in 1821. At its inception, the site had only two stills, and Whisky operation wasn't entirely legal yet. The distillery formally began operations in 1825, after Whisky distillation was legalized. Brown's original distillery operated with only one wash still and one spirit still.  Brown actually ran the distillery for over fifty years, until his death in 1868. Brown's son, William inherited the distillery, and demolished the original distillery to make way for the distillery today. 

Visitor's Centre

Unfortunately none. Linkwood is an industrial complex.

Visitor information

Linkwood Distillery
Linkwood Road
Elgin
Moray
IV30 8RD

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