Knockando

Knockando is a single malt distillery in Speyside region of Scotland. The name translates from the Gaelic cnoc-an-dhu as 'little black hill'. The spirit from Knockando has historically been used in Scotch blended whiskies and is one of the key components within J&B Rare in particular. But it is also a single malt brand in its own right and has been available consistently since the 1970s. It is very popular in France and Spain, where it is one of the biggest selling single malts.

Knockando is known for its light, delicate and fragrant style. A distinct nutty characteristic dominates with further notes of floral honey, green apple, background malt and hint of ginger evident.

Only 10% of the distillery's output is bottled as Knockando. Each bottling is the product of just one distilling season within one year, making it one of the few whiskies to show age and vintage on the label. The core whisky range consists of age statements at 12, 15 and 18 years of age (43% abv), plus the 21-year-old Master Reserve. Other bottlings are rare, although a Knockando 25-year-old featured in the Diageo Special Releases in 2011.

Knockando is one of the smaller distilleries on Speyside with a capacity of 1.4 million litres per year. It is equipped with a small 4.4 tonne mash tun that operates 16 mashes per week. The wort (the sugary liquid produced in the mash tun) is made deliberately cloudy to give the spirit its renowned nutty character.

There are eight wooden washbacks and two pairs of copper pot stills. Of the 16 mashes, eight are run with a short fermentation of 50 hours and eight with a longer one of 100 hours. The spirits from each are then married together before being filled to cask to balance the taste.

Knockando is home to five traditional dunnage warehouses with the spirit split between bourbon whiskey casks and sherry casks.

Knockando was founded in 1898 by John Tytler Thomson and is located in the Speyside village of Knockando. It was designed by renowned distillery architect Charles Doig and was part of the late Victorian whisky boom on Speyside. The position was chosen due to its proximity to the River Spey and Strathspey Railway. The building of the distillery resulted in a station being opened there in 1899. 

Distillation began in May 1899 but the distillery was only in production for 10 months. It closed in March 1900 with J. Thomson & Co. going into administration. The gin distillers W. & A. Gilbey purchased Knockando in 1903 and recommenced distillation a year later. It closed again during 1917 and 1918. This was due to barley shortages caused by World War I.

W. & A. Gilbey merged with United Wine Traders to form International Distillers & Vintners (IDV) in 1962. In 1972 IDV was taken over by Watney Mann, who was then taken over by Grand Metropolitan within the same year. The Knockando 12-year-old was first released in 1978. This makes it one of the longest continually available single malts on the market.

In 1997 Grand Metropolitan was one of the companies that merged to form Diageo. They remain the owners today. The distillery was closed for major refurbishments in December 2017 and only reopened for production in Summer 2021. The works were delayed due to the Covid pandemic.