HISTORY & HERITAGE

Peter MacKenzie founded the Dufftown Distillery in 1896 at the height of the Scottish whisky boom. Unfortunately, his beginner’s luck quickly ran out. Three years later, the Scottish whisky market collapsed, and MacKenzie and his sons were forced to turn their efforts to supplying the now dry American market.

Luckily, their renown for distilling great quality Scotch whisky allowed them to thrive throughout America’s Prohibition era. This helped the Dufftown Distillery join an exclusive club of only 15 out of 159 Scottish distilleries still in operation when the Prohibition Act was repealed in 1933.

The distillery is of course named after the famous town of Dufftown, which sits at the heart of the Speyside region – the most famous Scotch region in the world – characterised by its rich soil and rivers.

In the late 19th century, several distilleries were competing for scarce water sources. Legend has it that the stream from an artesian spring called Jock’s Well, situated high in the Conval Hills, was on multiple occasions diverted by rival distillery managers in the middle of the night to service their productions. Today, Dufftown Distillery still draws water from that same source.