As many as a hundred malt whisky distilleries have been born in the green glens of Speyside. Many of them, like Glen Elgin, were built in the boom years just before 1900.But even as the new chimney stacks rose, trouble was brewing in the whisky industry. Glen Elgin’s designer, the renowned Elgin architect Charles Doig, made the prediction, that this would be the last distillery built on Speyside for fifty years. Even this turned out to be conservative; it was actually 60 years before Tormore became the next.At least, in Glen Elgin, the best was saved for last. And, in fact, little has changed in a hundred years.In the 1930s, it became part of Scottish Malt Distillers, for whom it was an important component of the well-known White Horse blend.Innovations were rare during Glen Elgin’s first half century though one was crucial – the site had partly been chosen for its ability to make use of abundant water supplies from the Glen Burn to drive a turbine that provided most of the power needed to run the machinery. As a result, electricity from the national supply was not needed until 1950.The early 1960s brought much needed investment and four new stills were finally added to the original two. Glen Elgin™ became available as a single malt and exports of a 12 year old expression, predominantly to Italy and Japan, began in 1977.