| 1869 |
The Cragganmore Distillery was founded by John Smith, who is said to have been the most experienced distiller of his day. He had been manager of Macallan, Glenlivet and Wishaw distilleries, and was lease holder of Glenfarclas distillery when he persuaded his landlord, Sir George Macpherson-Grant, to lease him the land to build a new distillery at Ballindalloch beside the Strathspey railway line, in 1869. |
| 1887 |
The first 'whisky special' leaves Ballindalloch Station for Aberdeen, it's 25 wagons carrying 300 casks of Cragganmore. |
| 1912 |
Gordon Smith dies young and his widow Mary Jane takes over the running of the distillery. |
| 1917 |
Like most of its peers the distillery closes as the government restricts the supply of barley. |
| 1919 |
The distillery reopens. Mrs Smith installs electric lighting powered from a Kohler petrol driven generator. |
| 1922 |
Ballindalloch railway station burns down during the summer. A replacement is quickly commissioned and opens the following year. |
| 1923 |
Gordons widow sold the distillery to the White Horse Distillers Ltd. |
| 1925 |
A new warehouse is erected, in which 360,000 gallons of Cragganmore can be aged. |
| 1931 |
Hit by the 30s recession the distillery closes. |
| 1934 |
Limited production begins expanding to former levels in 1935. |
| 1941 |
Wartime again, and a shortage of barley severely limits operations for 5 years. |
| 1961 |
The still coal fired stills are converted to a mechanical stoking system. |
| 1964 |
Capacity increases as the number of stills is doubled to four. |
| 1972 |
All 4 stills are converted to steam heating from an oil fired boiler. |
| 1989 |
Cragganmore 12 year old becomes one of the six Classic Malts, representing Speyside. |
| 1998 |
The Distillers Edition Cragganmore is released, double matured and so still smokier, nuttier, richer than its famous sibling, which itself wins a Gold medal at the International Wine and Spirit Competition. |
| Today |
Cragganmore Single Malt is the most complex Speyside Malt. It is, however, in limited supply as it is one of Speyside's smaller distilleries, now working 7 days a week to keep up with demand. The Distillery's unique flat topped spirit stills and slowly condensed in traditional wooden worm-tubs, promotes Cragganmore's complexity. |
