Blair Athol Distillery — Highland Single Malt Whisky

Blair Athol Distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery located on the southern edge of Pitlochry, Perthshire, in the Highland region of Scotland. It was founded in 1798 and is currently owned by Diageo. One of Scotland's oldest working distilleries, it draws its water from the Allt Dour Burn, the same burn that gave the site its original name.

History

Blair Athol traces its origins to 1798, when John Stewart and Robert Robertson established a distillery on the site under the name "Aldour," after the Allt Dour Burn that supplied its water. The venture struggled against the high excise duties of the era, which made legally licensed distillers uncompetitive with illicit stills, and the site fell mothballed for several decades. It was revived in the 1820s, around the time of the 1823 Excise Act reforms that made legal distilling viable again, and was rebuilt under new ownership, taking the Blair Athol name. Over the following century the distillery changed hands repeatedly, passing through owners including Alexander Conacher & Co., John Conacher & Co., Peter Fraser & Co., and Peter Mackenzie & Co. Distillers Ltd from 1882.

Blair Athol closed in 1932 and was bought by Arthur Bell & Sons in 1933, but it did not resume production until the site was substantially rebuilt and reopened in 1949. A second pair of stills was added in 1973, bringing the distillery to its current four-still configuration. Arthur Bell & Sons was absorbed into Guinness in 1985, and the 1997 merger of Guinness with Grand Metropolitan created Diageo, which has owned Blair Athol ever since. The distillery has operated a visitor centre since 1988, drawing tens of thousands of visitors a year and serving as an official home of the Bell's blended whisky brand.

Quick Facts

• Region: Highland, Scotland
• Founded: 1798
• Owner: Diageo
• Status: Active
• Stills: 2 wash stills, 2 spirit stills

Core Range

Blair Athol's output is used mainly as a key filling for Diageo's blended whiskies, most notably Bell's and Johnnie Walker. Little of its make is bottled as a single malt, but the distillery's official core expression is the Blair Athol 12 Year Old (43% ABV), part of Diageo's Flora and Fauna range, alongside occasional Diageo Special Releases.