All the equipment is contained in a single room with mash tun at one end and four stills at the other. Originally designed to produce a light, estery malt for blending requirements, in recent years it has also occasionally produced a heavily-peated variant. Allt-a-Bhainne is only very occasionally seen as a single malt bottling.

Its modernist design singles Allt-a-Bhainne out as an oddity within Speyside, a region whose distilleries often seem to have sprouted from the bedrock. It was built by Seagram in 1975 during a period of growing optimism in the Scotch industry when the Canadian firm (which at the time owned Chivas Regal) was increasing its production capacity. It has had a chequered history with periods of being placed into mothballs (the most recent being between 2003 and 2005). With global demand rising, owner Chivas Brothers has it in full production once more.

About SMWS

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) was founded in 1983 by a group of friends lead by tax accountant Phillip ‘Pip’ Hills as a private members club. The concept behind the society was to source casks from all over Scotland which would then be bottled and made available exclusively to its members. Perhaps the most famous feature of these bottles are the unique codes. Each distillery is represented by a different number and the following digits indicate that particular release. That same year, the SMWS set up its first location in Leith’s Vault buildings in Edinburgh where it still stands today.

61.5% ABV