Tormore-distillery-KonstantinTormore 10 years oldTormore 12 years old Scotch whiskyhe Tormore distillery was founded as recently as 1960, circa half a mile from the river Spey. When construction began in 1958 it was one of the first new distillery to be built in the area in the 20th century. Long John International commissioned Sir Albert Richardson to design the distillery that now has the status of ‘listed building’. The buildings are made of granite and a clock on the premises plays four different Scottish songs every quarter of an hour. An entire village of workers houses was built in the same style; it was sold in 2004 for. The hedges in the garden are clipped in the shape of stills or bells.

In 1972 the number of stills at Tormore was expanded from four to eight and the heating stem was converted from coal to steam. And speaking of “heating”… When Tormore distillery was built a lot of attention was paid to the garden, which also includes a long, rectangular pond. The idea was that during winter time the traditional Scottish game of curling (a little bit like bowling on ice) could be played. However, the designers had forgotten all about the heat that would be generated by the still house-not to mention global warming. As a result, the first game of curling has yet to be played at Tormore.

In 1984 another change was made to the heating system of the stills, allowing them to be heated by burning wood chips – a by-product of the logging that took place in the pine forests of the area. This made Tormore distillery just a little bit “greener”. When construction of the Tormore distillery was started in 1958, the goal was to produce malt whisky for the vrious “Long John” blends. However, the Tormore malt soon became an ingredient for various Ballantine’s blends as well. Long John International was taken over by Whitbread & Co. in 75, who passed on the Tormore distillery to Allied Distillers Ltd. in the same year. This was the start of three relatively uneventful decades until 2005 when Pernod Ricard purchased the owners Allied Domecq.

The most remarkable events in this period were the introduction of the “Caledonian Malts” in 1991 by Allied, which included Glendronach, Miltonduff, Laphroaig and Tormore. In Allied’s alternative to Diageo’s succesful “Classic Malts” range, Tormore was later replaced with Scapa.