About Allt-a-Bhainne
(ALT-uh-VANYA) Allt-a-Bhainne was built in 1975 by Chivas Brothers, then owned by Seagram, near Glenrinnes in Speyside. Its name means “burn of milk” in Gaelic, and the distillery was designed as a modern, efficient production site to supply malt whisky for blends rather than as a traditional visitor-focused distillery. Capacity was expanded in 1989, and Chivas Brothers later became part of Pernod Ricard in 2001.
The distillery was mothballed in 2002 and returned to production in 2005. Most of its output has historically gone into Chivas Brothers blends, including Chivas Regal and 100 Pipers, while independent bottlings provided much of the single malt interest before the first official Allt-a-Bhainne single malt appeared in 2018. The modern official style is lightly peated, combining Speyside sweetness with gentle smoke rather than a heavily coastal or medicinal peat character.