History

Aberfeldy Distillery, founded by the John Dewar & Sons, Ltd. in 1896, and opened in 1898. The distillery is located on the eastern outskirts of Aberfeldy, on the southern bank of the upper Tay.However, with demand for barley rising in World War I for use as a basic foodstuff, the distillery closed from 1917 to 1919. The Second World War also caused barley supplies to be cut, and the distillery was again forced to shut down for some of this period. Supply to final markets was kept up by reducing the period whisky was laid up from 7 years to 3.In 1972 the distillery was enlarged, and the old stills were replaced by four new steam heated stills. In 1999, an Aberfeldy 12 Year Old Single Malt brand was introduced. In 2000, the Earl of Elgin opened "Dewar's World of Whisky" at the Aberfeldy Distillery: this is a centre for marketing the products and educating the public about the process of distillation and history of the Dewar's brand.Aberfeldy is the largest malt whisky component of Dewar's Blended Whisky.

The Distillery

Aberfeldy is situated in the centre of Scotland, some five miles east of Loch Tay and the town of Kenmore and about eight miles south of Loch Tummel. Aberfeldy relies on the fresh water stream Pitilie Burn, which runs alongside the distillery. Aberfeldy is the only distillery in Scotland to use these waters. Aberfeldy uses only Scottish barley, yeast and water.The area is contains historical landmarks, such as Kenmore Bridge. This was built by the 3rd Earl in 1774 and the view from it was the inspiration for Robert Burns's poem on the chimney piece of the Kenmore Inn.