DISTILLERY PROFILE: TORMORE
The return
Despite being built in 1959, Tormore distillery was one of the first new distilleries of the 20th century. Recently acquired by Elixir Distillers in 2022, the Speyside distillery is in many ways returning to its roots. Having lived there as a small boy, it’s a site that the Society’s head of the whisky creation, Euan Campbell, is familiar with. In March he returned to his childhood home ahead of the release of Tormore’s first expression in this new era
PHOTOS: MIKE WILKINSON
Anyone travelling along the A95 towards Grantown-on-Spey will have spotted the picturesque grounds and buildings of Tormore distillery. Architecturally distinct, it’s surrounded by elegant topiaried gardens.
Crowned with its weathered green copper roof, the distillery makes quite the impression. This trip is something of a homecoming for me. My family lived on site in the distillery houses when I was born and my dad, Gus, worked at the distillery as the maintenance manager. That involved everything from looking after the employee houses, vehicles and distillery equipment, to covering shifts as the mashman or stillman. “Jack of all trades, master of none” as he modestly puts it. I was only two years old when we left in 1987.
PICTURED: Tormore Distillery is quite the sight, but remains closed to visitors
PICTURED: Elixir's head blender, Oliver Chilton
A COMMUNITY SPIRIT
At the foot of the steps to the entrance of the distillery, there’s a curious mini-lido type installation. Elixir’s head blender, Oliver Chilton, tells me that it was in the original plans as a curling rink for the workers and residents. For one reason or another it was never used for that purpose and my dad tells me it was filled with water during his tenure, for use in case of fire. The original build was certainly community minded. In addition to the employee housing, there’s a charming village hall which was used for local badminton and carpet bowls tournaments until the late 90s. Perhaps less social is the ornate clock tower, currently silent, which plays a selection of Scottish jingles every 15 minutes should you want it to.
The new owners look to continue that community ethos. The number of employees has gone from five to 25 and providing local jobs plays a key role in their vision.
Most of the houses are now holiday homes, but Oliver explains that Elixir have taken back ownership of some of them. In fact, he currently lives in my old house and uses next door as his blending lab.
FUNCTION FOLLOWS FORM
The distillery’s water comes from a spring in the Cromdale hills and is used for everything across the production process, from cooling to spirit reduction. We took a small walk up to the stream behind the distillery and I remembered how my dad used to take visitors up there for drams and would draw water directly from source. It's a tranquil place, and Oliver tells me he occasionally comes here after a busy day to unwind.
In terms of the team operating the distillery, there’s plenty of experience. Distillery manager Polly Logan joined in January 2023 from The Macallan, having spent almost 20 years working across various distilleries and roles. Two of the operators stayed on from the previous owners (Chivas Brothers/Pernod Ricard), clocking up over 40 years at the distillery between them. Oliver himself has been with Elixir since 2013 and immersed in whisky a lot longer. Curiously, I discover that both Oliver and I studied philosophy at university in the mid-2000s and found our way into whisky via retail jobs.
A 10.4 tonne full lauter mash tun feeds eleven unusually located washbacks. Four next to the stills, three in the clock tower, which is a separate building to the stills, and four above the boiler house. Oliver muses:
“Most distilleries are built for function. At Tormore, clearly function follows form. The washbacks create complexity in more ways than one. We need to pitch at different temperatures to get the same arc of fermentation.”
The stills too are unique, with both wash and spirit stills fitted with purifiers, as Oliver explains: “The purifiers have copper plates in them, which force condensation back into the still. They are on every still. The designs for the spirit still have three plates (an S bend) making the spirit do a lot of work to get through, resulting in very pure spirit. They also used to hang copper chains inside the stills. It’s all about reflux here”.
These purifiers are connected back to the body of the stills by a thin run of copper piping which incorporates a small sight glass. While the lighter vapours make their way onto the shell and tube condensers, the heavier spirit can be seen running back into the still for another round of distillation.
This setup was designed to make a lighter style of spirit for the American palate, though Oliver believes the final spirit is weightier than was originally intended. It is renowned for its fruitiness and light nuttiness – think pears, stone fruits and perhaps a touch of almond, with maybe a little hint of pepperiness too.
BUILDING A FUTURE
As we walked through the maturation warehouses, I spotted many familiar cask types, adorned with the logos of cooperages that we also work with at the Society. While sampling various ages and cask types, Oliver revealed Elixir’s plans to release their first Tormore expressions, The Blueprint Series: “Our first releases are due out during the Spirit of Speyside festival at the end of April. The idea is to release three small-batch whiskies that showcase the building blocks of what we will create in the future. One will be matured in first fill bourbon wood, one in cream sherry, and the final one in toasted and charred oak barrels. These styles will eventually come together to form our core expression. We’re providing a sneak peek into where we are going.” Going forward Oliver wants to preserve the stone fruit character of the spirit, which shapes their approach to wood use: “Everything is in American oak, so the spirit character shines through. Stone fruits, vanilla, fruit crumble and custard. The colour is not super dark, but the flavour is balanced”.
I for one am looking forward to what the future holds for Tormore – it looks, and tastes, bright. It’s safe to say that members can expect the Society to release some cracking casks too, so be on the lookout for these in the years to come.