The History of Aultmore Distillery in Speyside

Aultmore's name on a cask head offers a starting point for exploring the distillery's history. The 1962 marking discussed here relates to the cask's recorded details. It does not establish how long whisky remained inside or when the cask was emptied. The history of Aultmore distillery gives the markings on this reclaimed cask head useful context.

The history of Aultmore distillery through hard years

Aultmore was built in 1896 by Alexander Edward, near the town of Keith on the eastern edge of Speyside. Edward was not new to the trade. He had taken on Benrinnes from his father and helped to found Craigellachie. Over his working life he also had a hand in Oban and in Dallas Dhu. People who knew him described him as one of the most energetic whisky men of his time.

The site sat on damp, misty ground known locally as Foggy Moss. Production began the following year, and within a short time the distillery had grown its capacity. In its early days Aultmore ran on a steam engine that became well known for its long working life. For a modest Speyside plant, it started with real ambition behind it.

A Short Aultmore Distillery History of Hard Years

The timing, though, was poor. In 1898 Edward renamed his company Oban and Aultmore-Glenlivet Distilleries Ltd, hoping to feed malt to the big blending houses. Within a year the blender Pattison collapsed and very nearly dragged the entire trade down with it. Aultmore had barely steadied itself when the First World War forced it to close through grain shortages.

Aultmore became part of John Dewar and Sons in 1923 and has a long connection with blended Scotch. Its subsequent rebuilding is part of the distillery's history, but an old cask date does not establish that a piece of oak is a surviving part of an earlier building.

Reading a 1962 Cask Head

The head on my bench is American white oak, which is what most Scotch was filled into by the 1960s. The inside still carries its char, the thin black layer a cooper burns into the wood before the cask is filled. I leave that char as it is rather than sand it back. It is part of the history, not a flaw to hide.

A barrel head is not one solid disc. It is several boards held together with wooden dowels, shaped to sit inside the groove at the end of the cask. Once you have taken a few apart, you start to read them the way you might read handwriting.

Read the distillery name, year and cask number together, and distinguish the visible wording from what is independently known about the source. A 1962 marking is not proof of sixty years of continuous use or maturation.

From a Speyside Cask to a Wall in Drymen

In my workshop near Loch Lomond, I prepare reclaimed cask wood for its next use while keeping its individual character. Surface wear is part of its appearance, but provenance should be explained through the known source rather than inferred from scratches or stains.

Each piece is handmade from reclaimed oak with its own grain and wear. The connection is to a genuine whisky cask; a date on that cask does not mean the timber came from the distillery's demolished buildings.

A Record You Can Hang on a Wall

The Aultmore distillery has outlived its own first buildings, two world wars, and more than one near collapse of the Scotch trade. The malt is still prized by blenders today, even if few drinkers ever ask for it by name. When I hold a cask head from 1962, I am holding a small and solid record of all of that.

I work slowly, by hand, with genuine Scottish casks. If you would like to see the reclaimed oak and the marks the whisky left behind, you are welcome to look through my current work. Every piece carries its own history, and no two are ever the same.