News of the development spread rapidly through the whisky community and congratulations and good wishes poured in. John Birnie of Glen Albyn Distillery in Inverness wrote: “You are really going to convert the Castle into a distillery! You have fairly raised the fame of your district. I hope your present venture may prove as successful as your last.”

The building took fifteen months to complete and on 1st May 1893, the first distillation took place at The Balvenie Distillery.

Over the years there have been a number of discreet expansions. In the early 1920's the old mansion was levelled to the basement floor and the stone blocks were used to build a new malt barn and kiln. The old malt kiln was converted into malt bins, electric light was installed and the number of stills has increased to nine.

Nowhere else will you find a distillery that still grows its own barley, still malts in its own traditional floor maltings and still employs coopers to tend the casks and a coppersmith to maintain the stills. Successive generations of skill on the malting floor, in the tun room and the still house, in the cooperage and the warehouses have preserved the consistency and remarkably high quality of The Balvenie down the years. If you'd like to visit The Balvenie Distillery, you can now request a tour online.