Cask

Spent the morning walking up Ben Rinnes, the only Munro in Moray. A hard steep climb towards the end but worth it wen you get to the top. Not much snow around but a few bits on the way up. The walk was cold as there was a strong wind for most of the way which got stronger at the top.

Came down to Aberlour distillery for a tour.

James Fleming (1830-95), founded the Aberlour Distillery. He was originally a grain dealer but branched out into distilling. He acquired the land at Aberlour and with it the priceless water source. The started to build the distillery in 1879 and by the end of the year was producing whisky.

In 1898 a fire destroyed several of the distillery buildings and most of the whisky stocks. Under the supervision of Scotland's foremost designer of whisky distilleries, Charles Doig of Elgin, the Aberlour Distillery was largely rebuilt.

Over the past 100 years, with modernisation and technology, the composition of the distillery has inevitably altered, though many of the original features are still there and the traditional working character of the place remains unchanged.

The distillery produces 3.2 million litres of alcohol each year. Casked at 63.5%, the main age statements of Aberlour single malt Scotch whiskies are the 10, 12 and 16 Year Olds and A'bunadh.

The picture is of a Hogshead cask containing some of the new made spirit while it quietly turns into whisky. This is a new cask from the Jim Beam distillery in the USA. This is there Aberlour get the majority of the American oak casks.

You can see at the end of the cask where it has started to leak and the cask has released form of its natural sugar to "heal" itself and plug the leak.