Most whisky producers take pride in their long history, and will thus fight to subtract another year from their est. date (some list the day the construction of the distillery begun, rather than when it first opened, for example), Aberlour, however, have gone in the opposite direction. They first opened for business in 1826 but the distillery was burnt to the ground and re-opened in 1879, which is the date they now have on their bottles. Having been burnt to the ground and rebuilt, another fire broke out only 9 years after re-opening ; this time the fire wasn’t quite as bad and did spare some of the buildings, though several were completely destroyed along with most of their whisky reservoirs.
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The Scottish highlands are known for a variety of things; their rugged hills and mountains including Ben Nevis, the highest in the UK, fantastic nature and well preserved wildlife, the all-but-sparse flow of naturally crisp and pure water, but perhaps more than any of those it is known for, you guessed it, fantastic whisky.
The highlands region is home to a host of distilleries including Oban, Glenmorangie, Glenturret and of Dalmore – which is the distillery we’ll be focusing on in this post. More precisely, I’m going to introduce you to their quite unusual King Alexander III, and I really do mean unusual. The process that gives it its flavour is not unusual in itself, though they’ve gone rather further than average in a certain, and for this whisky crucial, element of the production; selecting their casks.
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