Tomatin Distillery

Gaelic translation: The distillery located on the "hill of juniper"

History

Illicit stills are part of the history of whisky distilling in Scotland, and were widely used in the local hills around Tomatin. As a distilling site, illicit or otherwise, Tomatin goes back to the 15th Century when drovers – men who ‘drove’ their cattle to market over high mountain passes – would fill up their whisky flasks from a still alongside the Old Laird’s House.

A formal distillery for the making of fine Scotch malt was first built on the site in 1897 by the Tomatin Spey District Distillery Co Ltd, and revived in 1909 by the new Tomatin Distillers Co Ltd.

A 20-year expansion programme started in the 1950s saw production rise to some 12 million litres a year by 1974, making Tomatin the largest capacity Scotch whisky distillery in the world at the time.

The distillery was acquired by Japanese shareholders in 1986, who established the current Tomatin Distillery Company Limited, and launched the modern era of whisky distilling in the Monadhliath Mountains.