Aberargie

Aberargie (pronounced aber-rar-jee) is an artisan single malt distillery located in Perthshire, Scotland. It is designed to be a true 'barley to bottle' operation with all barley used in production grown on the owners farm adjacent to the distillery. In fact, the only part of the process not undertaken on site is the malting. The inaugural whisky is eagerly anticipated and will add to the Lowlands single malt category.   

With a first single malt release still on the horizon, there are not many that have sampled any Aberargie spirit. The owner states that it is a 'rich, fruity and waxy' style of single malt.

They have been filling the spirit to first-fill and re-fill ex-bourbon barrels and ex-sherry butts. They are also distilling a short run of peated spirit each year.    

The annual capacity of Aberargie is 750,000 litres. Different barley varieties, including Golden Promise, are grown on-site and used in production.

There is a two tonne mash tun and is equipped with six stainless steel washbacks. They operate a fermentation time of 72 hours. The distillery has a single pair of copper pot stills. The larger is a 15,000 litre wash still and the smaller is a 10,000 spirit still. These were constructed by the famous Speyside coppersmiths of Forsyths and feature steeply descending lyne arms.

Water is taken from a private well located on the farm next to the distillery.   

Aberargie was founded in 2016 and was built within a year. Distillation trials began in October 2017 and the inaugural cask was filled on November 1st. It is owned by Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers Ltd.

They also own the Bruadar and Columba Cream whisky liqueur brands, plus the Carn Mor range of single malts and the Old Perth blended brand. The distillery was located on Aberargie Farm in southern Perthshire, close to the town of Abernethy, which neighbours the company's blending and bottling facility.

Although Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers Ltd. is a modern company (it was founded in 2019), their heritage dates back much further. The Morrison family was a whisky broking business in 1951. They used to own distilleries such as Bowmore, Glen Garioch and Auchentoshan before selling them to Suntory in 1994. In 2005, Brian and Jamie Morrison and Kenny Mackay secured a majority stake in the Scottish Liqueur Centre. The company name was changed to Morrison & Mackay in 2014, after the acquisition of Old Perth from Whyte & Mackay. 

To aid the projected growth of sales, Morrison & Mackay submitted plans for both a new bottling plant and distillery in late 2014. The blending and bottling facility was built first, with the distillery following afterwards. The distillery was built on a 300 acre farm owned by the Morrison family.