Speyside Cooperage

Speyside Cooperage

The Speyside Cooperage is a cooperage located in Craigellachie, Aberlour, Scotland. Its visitor centre, the only such in Britain, is part of the Malt Whisky Trail, started in the early 1980s.[1][2]

Each year, it produces and repairs nearly 150,000 oak casks used by the surrounding Speyside Whisky distilleries, as well as distilleries elsewhere throughout Scotland.[1]

Owned by the Taylor family since its founding in 1947, the cooperage was sold in 2008 to the French firm Tonnellerie François Frères.[3]

Barrel storage in the open
The Malt Whisky Trail Map

According to a 2012 BBC article, visitors to the cooperage can view the making of a cask from start to completion, employing "traditional methods and tools for creating exceptional casks from American oak, many of which are sent around the world".[4]

  1. ^ a b Smith, Gavin (1 November 1998). "Speyside Cooperage". The Scottish Malt Whisky Society. Retrieved 4 January 2009.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ MacDonald, Ian (29 April 2005). "Fish tales and the Whisky Trail". BBC. Retrieved 4 January 2009.
  3. ^ Bradley, Jane (4 April 2008). "French buy Speyside Cooperage". The Scotsman. Retrieved 4 January 2009.
  4. ^ Shatzman, Celia. "Exploring Scotland's historic whisky trail". www.bbc.com.