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Pernod Ricard
agree to sell Tormore distillery to
Elixir Distillers a company founded by
the former owners of
The Whisky Exchange
Although visually Tormore distillery
looks like it was constructed in the
19th century, it was actually built in
1958 for Long John Distillers. It was
the first new malt whisky distillery to
be built in the Highlands in the 20th
century. It was designed by Sir Arthur
Richardson and architecturally it is one
of the most elegant distilleries you
will ever see, so much so it is already
a listed building.
In 1975, Long John
came under the control of Whitbread &
Co, then the distillery was acquired by
Allied Distillers Ltd. Ownership of the Tormore
distillery then came under control of
Pernod-Ricard when they took over
Allied Domecq in 2005.
Tormore has long been a feeder
distillery for Scotch blended whiskies,
it has always been considered a 2nd
Class malt whisky by blenders and single malt
whisky drinkers have seen very little
official distillery bottlings from
Tormore over the years. I recall that
there was a rather poor caramel packed
Tormore 12 year old which I didn't rate
as worth trying, they no longer produce that and with good reason.
There was a Tormore 14 year old which
was slightly better than the 12 year
old, but not much, however they did
produce a rather good Tormore 16 year
old expression which demonstrated that
there is some good stuff maturing in the
warehouses at Tormore.
It looks like Scotch single malt whisky
fans may soon get the chance to explore
what Tormore has maturing in its
warehouses as Pernod
Ricard has signed an agreement to sell
(for an undisclosed sum) the
Tormore Scotch Whisky brand and
distillery to Elixir Distillers, a
company co-founded by Sukhinder and
Rajbir Singh founders and former owners
of Specialty Drinks Ltd., the parent
company of the online whisky shop
The Whisky Exchange
which Pernod Ricard acquired in late
2021.
The Tormore distillery is emblematic of
the Speyside region, home of the
Scottish malt whisky industry, with a
capacity of nearly 5 million litres of
alcohol per annum. It is probably more
famous for its architectural
design than the quality of its Scotch
whiskies.
Alexandre Ricard, Chairman and CEO of
Pernod Ricard, stated: "Active portfolio
management is an integral part of our
long-term strategy. The sale of the
Tormore brand and distillery follows the
recent announcement of our investment
behind the Aberlour and Miltonduff
facilities, which will increase our
Scotch production capacities by 14
million liters of alcohol per annum. We
are delighted to be handing Tormore over
to Sukhinder and Rajbir, two friends and
truly creative entrepreneurs and look
forward to finding new ways to
collaborate in the future."
Sukhinder Singh explained: "Tormore is
one of the most visually stunning
distilleries in Speyside. It produces a
beautiful spirit and fits in perfectly
with the Elixir Distillers flavour-first
philosophy to bottle only the very
highest quality whiskies. We are hoping
to build on the work that’s been done by
Pernod Ricard to bring to life the magic
of Tormore and show consumers around the
world just what a hidden gem it is. We
are humbled to be the new custodians of
Tormore; we couldn’t have asked for a
better distillery to welcome to the
Elixir family alongside our new Islay
distillery, Portintruan."
Here's hoping Tormore will turn out to
be a hidden gem, time will tell, but I
have always considered the problem with
Tormore was its stainless steel mash tun
and washbacks and that hasn't change,
perhaps some creative use of casks for
maturing it will offer whisky fans
something worth buying in the future.
I don't know if Elixir will be bringing
in a creative master blender and when we
will see a new bottling from Tormore but
I hope it is a good one, meanwhile you
may find some Tormore bottlings
available from specialist online
whisky retailers
such as
The Whisky Exchange,
The Whisky Shop
and
Master of Malt
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