Scottish Places of Interest. Aberlour.

Aberlour Distillery is located in the Speyside Whisky region and sits close to the A95 at the west end of the small town of Aberlour. The Distillery sits in a wooded hollow near the tributary where the River Lour joins the River Spey.

The name Aberlour is derived from Gaelic. “Aber” is a Gaelic word that means the mouth of a river, or the meeting place of rivers (in this case the meeting of the River Lour and River Spey).

Aberlour is one of the more attractive and traditional looking distilleries on Speyside, but once you step inside the production areas you may be surprised at how modern the equipment is relative to the old-fashioned appearance of the buildings.

The tour starts with a brief (~15 min) history of whisky making in Scotland and some details about the founders of Aberlour distillery. You then start on a 30 – 45 minute walk around the production areas. During the walk round you get a chance to taste the “sweet worts”, which is the beer like liquid that is distilled to produce the whisky spirit.

The last hour of the Aberlour tour is spent tasting 5 different “expressions” of the Aberlour Malt in the tasting room. You can also taste some of the pure spirit taken directly from the still, but this might overpower your taste buds for the delicacies to follow.

The attractive tasting room is situated in a corner of a warehouse with glass panels that allow you to view the maturing whisky barrels whilst sampling the finished product.