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This
is an example of one of the page spreads from The Malt Whisky Guide. Below
is the text from the pages, illustrating the detail of information on
each distillery. Valueable for any enthusiast, bar or retail outlet.
Speyburn rests peacefully on the side of a hill in what is one of the prettiest areas of Scotland. The area in the Glen of Rothes is very steep and meant that the distillery had to be built upwards and on two floors. The area was once known as the Gibbet as it was the area for execution of local criminals.
Speyburn was another in a long list of distilleries designed by Charles Doig, the most eminent distillery architect and inventor of his day (and really of any day). His part in the design of Speyburn almost guaranteed pagoda roofs, his trademark design for the tops of the malt kilns.
Speyburn was built in 1897 by the Speyburn-Glenlivet Company, a subsidiary of John Hopkins, who were themselves bought by the DCL in 1916 during the whisky depression period following the Pattison crash. The first whisky was rushed off the stills in order to have maturing stocks to mark the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria. This was done in such haste that the still house doors and windows were not constructed and work was conducted in the middle of a snowstorm. The distillery was silent 1930-1934 and John Hopkins' company was liquidated in 1962 and the distillery then transferred to the Scottish Malt Distillers.
