Tormore Distillery — Speyside Single Malt Whisky

Tormore Distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery located beside the River Spey near Grantown-on-Spey, Speyside, Scotland. It was founded in 1958 and is currently owned by Elixir Distillers. Tormore is notable both for its striking granite architecture, designed by Sir Albert Richardson, and for being the first entirely new malt whisky distillery built in Scotland in the 20th century.

History

Tormore was built between 1958 and 1960 for Long John International, commissioned as a purpose-designed, architecturally ambitious distillery at a time when almost all other Scottish distilleries were converted older buildings. The site was designed by architect Alexander Cullen with input from Sir Albert Richardson, and the result is a listed building complex: a granite distillery with copper rotor details, ornamental topiary gardens clipped into the shapes of stills and bells, a purpose-built worker's village, and a distinctive clock above the stillhouse that chimes Scottish tunes on the quarter hour. The distillery drew its process water from the Achvochkie Burn and the nearby Loch an Doire Bhranaidh.

Ownership passed through several major spirits groups over the following decades. Long John was absorbed by Whitbread & Co in 1975, and Tormore came under Allied Distillers the same year. The distillery expanded from four to eight stills in 1972 to meet growing demand for blending stock. When Pernod Ricard acquired Allied Domecq in 2005, Tormore passed to its Chivas Brothers division, and for most of this period the whisky was used almost exclusively as a component in blends such as Long John and various Chivas Brothers blended Scotches, with only limited official single malt bottlings reaching the market.

In 2022, independent bottler and retailer Elixir Distillers, founded by Sukhinder and Rajbir Singh, purchased Tormore from Pernod Ricard, marking its return to independent ownership. Under the new owners, Tormore has been repositioned as a single malt in its own right, with a relaunched core range unveiled in 2026 built around lighter, fruit-forward, minimally sherried spirit drawn off unusually large wash stills fitted with purifiers to maximise copper contact.

Quick Facts

• Region: Speyside
• Founded: 1958 (production from 1960)
• Owner: Elixir Distillers
• Status: Active
• Stills: 4 wash stills, 4 spirit stills

Core Range

Tormore's relaunched core range emphasises a light, fruity, nutty house style with pear and peach notes rather than heavy sherry influence. It includes Tormore Timeless (no age statement, 43% ABV), matured mainly in first-fill bourbon casks with a small proportion of cream sherry casks; Tormore 12 Year Old (46% ABV), drawn largely from first-fill bourbon casks with some first-fill American oak cream sherry and toasted/charred new oak; and Tormore 16 Year Old, matured predominantly in American oak cream sherry and French oak Oloroso butts. Historically, the bulk of Tormore's output has gone into blended Scotch whiskies, including Long John and Chivas Brothers blends.