Overview
The Tomintoul-Glenlivet Distillery is a distillery in Ballindalloch, in the Speyside region of Scotland, producing malt whisky for blends and bottled as single malts. The distillery was founded in 1964. It doubled in capacity when two extra stills were installed in 1974, and started bottling single malt whisky in that year. It produces a range of single malts of different ages, a peated malt, and a vintage malt. The distillery is owned and operated by Angus Dundee Distillers, PLC, of London, England, which also owns and operates the Glencadam distillery.
In 2009 Tomintoul entered the Guinness Book of World Records by producing the largest bottle of whisky in the world, containing 105.3 litres of 14-year-old Tomintoul malt whisky.
Location and contact details
Location: Tomintoul Distillery, Ballindalloch, Banffshire AB37 9AQ, Scotland
Visit Type: By appointment only
Co-ordinates: 57.312496, -3.412143
Telephone: +44 (0)1807 590 274
Email: gbowie@angusdundee.co.uk
Web: https://www.tomintoulwhisky.com/ 
Twitter: Tomintoul (@TomintoulWhisky)Facts and figures
| Location | Banffshire |
| Founded | 1964 |
| Founder | Hey & Macleod and W. and S. Strong |
| Owner | Angus Dundee Distillers |
| Water Source | Ballantruan spring |
| Stills | Two wash, two spirit |
Opening Hours
The distillery does not have a visitor centre so tours are strictly by appointment only. Tours are limited to Tuesday and Thursday at 1000 and 1400.
Tours
Distillery Tour
Free
Tours are limited to Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1000 and 1400 and are strictly by appointment only.
For more information or to book a tour, contact Graeme Bowie on 01807 590274 or email gbowie@angusdundee.co.uk.
Review: Distillery Tour (20:03 on 26/09/2019)
Price: Free
Tomintoul distillery is located on The GlenLivet Estate and is one of four distilleries which can include The GlenLivet on their bottles. For the size of roads I traveled down, I started to think the SatNav was taking me to the wrong place, but just before I stopped to see if I could check a map, the distillery hove into view.
I'd booked the tour by phone, originally for the 10th, and changed it when I couldn't get away earlier in the month. The tour was conducted by Graeme Bowie, the Production Manager; you could hardly pick a better, more informed, person to be your guide.
The tour was at 1000 and it was a one-to-one tour. It took about an hour-and-a-half to go through the production of Tomintoul whisky from milling to mashing to fermentation to distilling to maturing and also blending.
This last was the first one I have seen when visiting distilleries. In the case of the other blenders, the blending takes place elsewhere, but Tomintoul have it onsite.
Photography was allowed everywhere on the tour except for a single white board in the blending area holding commercially sensitive information.
As you'd expect from a man like Graeme, who has worked at many distilleries over the years (including Glen Grant, Ardnamurchan and Balblair) the tour was very complete, in terms of the processes, and also included anecdotes of his work in the whisky industry which adds more colour.
We then returned to the offices for the tasting; as I was driving, Graeme provided me some samples to take away:
- Tomintoul 12 Year Old Oloroso Sherry Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky
- Tomintoul 15 Year Old Portwood Finish Single Malt Whisky
- Tomintoul 16 Year Old Single Malt Whisky
- Old Ballantruan 15 Year Old Single Malt Whisky
I've had a few good tours already in 2019, with Fettercairn the best before now, but this is definitely the standout, and I expect it to be very difficult to beat. Most distillery tours are conducted by a tour guide rather than someone from production, let alone someone so senior in production and on this tour I saw and was told things I'd not seen or heard before (which is sahying something after visiting my 122nd distillery.
History
It was founded in 1964 by the Glasgow whisky traders Hey & Macleod and W. and S. Strong, which set up a working company, Tomintoul Distillery Ltd. Production, to manage the distillery. At its founding the distillery had one wash still and one spirit still. The distillery was bought by Scottish and Universal Investment Trust in 1973 which doubled the production capacity by placing an extra pair of steam heated stills in the next year. That year, the distilleries 10 year anniversary, they also released the first bottling of their malt. Scottish and Universal was sold on to Whyte & Mackay (which was owned by Brent Walker) in 1989.
Whyte & Mackay itself was bought by American Brands in 1990, and in the same year, Tomintoul started selling a 12-year-old bottling of its malt in a distinctively styled bottle. The distillery itself was sold off to Angus Dundee in 2000, and under their management, the official bottling became the 10-year-old malt, sold in more conventional bottles. The official bottling portfolio expanded in the next years, with a 16-year-old malt in 2003 and a 27-year-old malt in 2004. A year later in 2005 a 1991 peaty vintage was released under the name 'Old Ballantruan', bottled at 50% ABV, followed by 12 year old finished on Oloroso butts, a vatting of unpeated and peated Tomintoul malts under the name 'Peaty Tang', and a 1976 vintage, all released around 2008
