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Millburn

SCOTCH SINGLE MALT WHISKIES > M
MILLBURN  
18 years old
40 %            
CONNOISSEURS CHOICE
Distilled 1971
Bottled 1989
Proprietors: Macleay Duff (Distillers) Ltd
Gordon & Macphail, Elgin

MILLBURN  
20 years old
40%                    
CONNOISSEURS CHOICE
Distilled 1971
Bottled 1991
Proprietors: MacLeay Duff (Distillers) Ltd
Gordon & Macphail, Elgin

MILLBURN  
24 years old
40%                 
CONNOISSEURS CHOICE
Distilled 1974
Bottled 1998
Proprietors: Macleay Duff (Distillers) Ltd
Gordon & Macphail, Elgin

MILLBURN  
26 years old
40 %                  
CONNOISSEURS CHOICE
Distilled 1974
Bottled 2000
Proprietors: MacLeay Duff (Distillers) Ltd
Gordon & Macphail, Elgin

MILLBURN   
Aged 26 years
58,1 %                  
SIGNATORY VINTAGE
Speyside Single Malt  Scotch Whisky
1979
Distilled on:10/01/1979
Matured  in a Refill Butt
Cask No: 26
Bottled on: 17/01/2005
Numbered Bottles
531 Bottles
Natural Colour
Signatory Vintage
Scotch Whisky Co, Ltd, Edinburgh

MILLBURN  
VINTAGE 1979   
60,1%              
Distilled 31.3.79
Bottled 5.95
Butt No. 1102
308 bottles
Signatory Vintage
Scotch Whisky Co, Ltd, Edinburgh

MILLBURN   
13 years old
46%            
Distilled December 1969
Bottled February 1983
Proprietors: MacLeay Duff (Distillers) Ltd
Wm. Cadenhead, Aberdeen

MILLBURN  
25 years old
61.9 %             
RARE MALTS SELECTION
Natural Cask Strenght
Distilled 1975
Bottled October 2001
Limited Edition
Genummerde flessen
Scottish Malt Distillers, Elgin.

This 25 year old is the second Rare Malt bottling of Millburn 1975, the earlier having been 18 years in cask; it is a powerful, medium fruity flavours and a dryer, bitter chocolate finish.
'Rich pear-drop aromas introduce a powerful, medium bodied dram with fruit-sweet flavours. Now very hard to find at this age'.

MILLBURN   
11 years old
58,4%            
CADENHEAD'S
AUTHENTIC COLLECTION
Cask Strenght
Distilled October 1983
Bottled July 1995
No additives
No colouring
No filtration
Wm, Cadenhead, Campbeltown

MILLBURN  
35 years old
51,2 %              
RARE MALTS SELECTION
Natural Cask Strenght
Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Distilled 1969
Bottled April 2005
Limited Edition
6000 Numbered Bottles
Scottish Malt Distillers, Elgin

This full gold, 35 year old Highland malt´s very characteristic, peppery aromas introduce a big, satisfying, mature yet supple dram with rich, sweet flavours and a spicy, drying finish.

MILLBURN      
34 years old
46 %               
HIGHLAND SINGLE MALT
SCOTCH  WHISKY
Distilled  1972
Bottled 2006
Proprietors:  Macley Duff  (Distillers) Ltd
Bonded and Bottled by
Gordon & Macphail,  Elgin

MILLBURN  
23 years old
40%                  
CONNOISSEURS CHOICE
Distilled 1972
Bottled 1995
Proprietors: MacLeay Duff (Distillers) Ltd
Gordon & Macphail, Elgin

MILLBURN  
28 years old
46%                  
CONNOISSEURS CHOICE
Distilled 1976
Bottled 2004
Proprietors: MacLeay Duff (Distillers) Ltd
Gordon & Macphail, Elgin

MILLBURN  
18 years old
58,9 %     
RARE MALTS SELECTION
Natural Cask Strenght
Distilled 1975
Limited Bottling
MacLeay Duff Distillers, Elgin

MILLBURN   
Aged 26 years
58,1 %                  
SIGNATORY VINTAGE
Speyside Single Malt  Scotch Whisky
1979
Distilled on:10/01/1979
Matured  in a Refill Butt
Cask No: 26
Bottled on: 17/01/2005
Numbered Bottles
531 Bottles
Natural Colour
Signatory Vintage
Scotch Whisky Co, Ltd, Edinburgh

MILLBURN  
VINTAGE 1979   
60,1%              
Distilled 31.3.79
Bottled 5.95
Butt No. 1102
308 bottles
Signatory Vintage
Scotch Whisky Co, Ltd, Edinburgh

MILLBURN  
22 years old
58,7 %               
SILENT STILLS
Distilled 12.11.74
Bottled 29.10.97
Cask No. 4614
290 bottles
Signatory Vintage
Scotch Whisky Co, Ltd, Edinburgh

MILLBURN   
13 years old
46%            
Distilled December 1969
Bottled February 1983
Proprietors: MacLeay Duff (Distillers) Ltd
Wm. Cadenhead, Aberdeenn.

MILLBURN   
13 years old
62,3%                 
Distilled Feb 79
Bottled Mar 92
Society Cask No. code 87.2
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society,
The Vaults, Leith, Edinburgh

Bleke kleur. Heel ongewone neus: nat hooi en hazelnoot, zoals een bos ruikt in de herfst. Iets honing. Zoete afdronk.

MILLBURN   
17 years old
46 %            
UN - CHILLFILTERED COLLECTION
Closed Distillery
Matured in a Sherry Butt
Distilled on: 25th October 1983

Cask No. 1538
Bottled on: 29th May 2001
596 bottles
Signatory Vintage
Scotch Whisky Co, Ltd, Edinburgh

MILLBURN
Inverness, Licentiehouder: MacLeay Duff (Distillers) Ltd. Onderdeel van Scottish Malt Dis-tillers Ltd. (S.M.D.) De malt divisie van United Distillers Ltd. Eigendom van Guinness.

Millburn zou zijn gesticht door een zekere Welsh, maar het eerste bewijs van het bestaan van Millburn stamt uit 1825, waaruit blijkt dat James Rose en Alex MacDonald de licentie-houders waren.

In de Inverness Journal stond op 25 Maart 1829 dat de pachtsom voor land te Diriebught E 136 per jaar was, de huurder was Millburn Distillery Co, en de duur van de pachtperiode was veertien jaar.

In 1837 werd de produktie gestaakt
.
David Rose, een graanhandelaar te Inverness huurde de plek in 1853 en Millburn was enige tijd in gebruik als graanmaalderij.

In 1876 verzocht Rose het stadsbestuur van Inverness gebruik te mogen maken van de watervoorziening van de stad en gaf een locale architect, Ross om een distilleerder!j te ontwerpen.

Deze werd in 1876 opgestart
.
David Rose deed Millburn in 1883 over aan zijn zoon George die dit deed tot in 1892 toen hij de distilleerderij verkocht aan Alexander Price Haig en zijn broer David Price Haig, leden van de bekende fanilie Haig die veel ondernemers zou leveren aan de whiskyindustrie.

A. Haig & Co verhoogden de produktiekapaciteit aanzienlijk in 1898.
Van 1914 tot 1918 was Millburn gesloten.
In 1921 werd Millburn verkocht aan Booth's Distillery Ltd te Londen, ginproducenten, wijn-handelaren en drankhandelaars, voor E 25.000.
Op 26 April 1922 werd Millburn grotendeels door brand verwoest, de schade bedroeg E 40.000.
De architect van de wederopbouw van Millburn was Charles Doig en de distilleerderij kreeg een produktiekapiciteit van 150.000 Gallons whisky per jaar.
In 1887 werd er uitgebreid en kon men 210.000 Gallons whisky per jaar produceren en was er plaats voor één miljoen Gallons als opslagkapaciteit.
In 1935 kocht Booth's Wm. Sanderson & Son Ltd, de makers van Vat 69.
In 1935 werd Booth op zijn beurt overgenomen door The Distillers Company Ltd, (D.C.L). te Edinburgh.nverness, Licentiehouder: MacLeay Duff (Distillers) Ltd. Onderdeel van Scottish Malt Dis-tillers Ltd. (S.M.D.) De malt divisie van United Distillers Ltd. Eigendom van Guinness.
Millburn zou zijn gesticht door een zekere Welsh, maar het eerste bewijs van het bestaan van Millburn stamt uit 1825, waaruit blijkt dat James Rose en Alex MacDonald de licentie-houders waren.
In de Inverness Journal stond op 25 Maart 1829 dat de pachtsom voor land te Diriebught E 136 per jaar was, de huurder was Millburn Distillery Co, en de duur van de pachtperiode was veertien jaar.
In 1837 werd de produktie gestaakt.
David Rose, een graanhandelaar te Inverness huurde de plek in 1853 en Millburn was enige tijd in gebruik als graanmaalderij.
In 1876 verzocht Rose het stadsbestuur van Inverness gebruik te mogen maken van de watervoorziening van de stad en gaf een locale architect, Ross om een distilleerder!j te ont-werpen.
Deze werd in 1876 opgestart.
In 1935 werd Booth op zijn beurt overgenomen door The Distillers Company Ltd, (D.C.L). te Edinburgh.
Millburn was gesloten gedurende de tweede wereldoorlog.
In 1943 werd Millburn onderdeel van Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd, de malt diviesie van de D.C.L.
In 1945 werd Millburn weer opgestart.
De kolengestookte ketels werden vanaf 1985 mechanisch van kolen voorzien, en ook in datzelfde jaar werd Millburn aangesloten op het electricteitsnet.
In 1966 werd het ketelhuis herbouwd en vanaf dan worden de ketels met stoom verhit. In 1964 werd de vloermouterij vervangen door het Saladin systeem.

Het proceswater is afkomstig vanLoch Duntelchaig, het koelwater van een reservoir dat wordt gevoed door de Mill Burn.
Millburn werd in 1988 gesloten en ontmanteld.
Millburn was een belangrijke komponent in de vatted malt Mill Burn en de blend Glen Lyon.

Built during 1876 on an earlier distillery site to the designs of a local architect named Ross for corn merchant David Rose, Millburn lay a mile east of central Inverness. On the banks of ht Mill Burn, its simple name was perhaps inevitable.
Rose's son George worked the distillery in the 1880s, before selling it to Alexander Haig & Co in 1891. This famous whisky family invested heavily to ensure that Millburn benefited from the boom of the late years of the century.
In the more difficult Twenties, Millburn was then sold to Booth's, a family famous today for gin but which also wholesaled blended whiskies at the time.
Whatever their skills, the first result was a disastrous fire in 1922, put out with the swift help of soldiers from the adjacent Cameron Barracks - whose battalion commanders still included Lt. Colonel David Haig, former owner of Millburn.
Rebuilding, complete with Merryweather fire engine, was immediately entrusted to the legendary Charles Doig.
Millburn's two pot stills drew their water from Loch Duntelchaig, operating until urban encroachment made concitions impossible in the 1980s.

October 2005
Diageo has announced that its 2005 Annual Rare Malts Selection will be the last.
The collection will consist of four cask strenght single malts from closed distilleries; Glen Mhor 28 years old, Millburn 35 years old, Glendullan 26 years old and Linkwood 30 years old.

Dr. Nicholas Morgan, global malts marketing director commented: 'As the Special Releases are now well established, it makes less sence to continue selecting and promoting a parallel series of Rare Malts with his own separate indentity'.

In future, all premium and rare whiskies will be made available in the annual Special Re-leases series.
Established by 1807 and rebuilt by David Rose in 1876, now-closed Millburn (a mill, by an Inverness burn) was later owned by the Haig family.

Millburn Distillery is located about one mile east of the centre of Inverness, on the main road to Nairn. It was built on the banks of the stream from which it, and the district, take their name. The identities of the founders, and the year when the distillery was established, are not certain. The earliest recorded reference dates from 1825, when James Rose and Alex Macdonald were named as the licence-holders. The Inverness Journal stated on 25 March 1829 that "the sessions lands of Diriebught were on this day let on a fourteen years' lease to the Millburn Distillery Co." at a rent of £136 per annum. The company ceased production some time after 1837.David Rose, a corn merchant in Inverness, obtained a feu of the site, which he used as a flour mill, in 1853. At that time five mills, for the manufacture of oatmeal, flour and cloth, were working along the Mill Burn, with rights to use its water. In 1876, Rose applied for the use of the town's water supply, and commissioned a local architect named Ross to design a new and larger distillery. This was described by the Inverness Courier on 19 October 1876, three weeks after it opened. The square main building housed the engine room, mill room, mash house, tunroom, stillhouse, spirit store and warehouses, and a wing contained the offices, "comfortably and tastefully fitted up", and the maltings. The supply from the Mill Burn was to be supplemented by Lochashie water "as soon as the latter is introduced into the town."

David Rose conveyed the property in 1883 to his son George, also a corn merchant, who worked the distillery until 1892. It was sold in that year to Alexander Price Haig and his brother David Price Haig. They were members of a family that supplied many entrepreneurs to the whisky industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

A. Haig & Co. increased productive capacity in 1898 to meet the peak of rising demand for malt whisky. A trade paper reported in February 1899 that "the whole of the internal arrangments have been remodelled and the plant and machinery are entirely new." All the machinery was driven by a steam engine of 16 h.p. and a water turbine of 8 h.p.

The whisky industry was in the doldrums in the years following the war of 1914 to 1918. Millburn Distillery was sold in 1921 to Booth's Distillery Ltd. of London, for £0. Booth's were gin rectifiers, but also carried on a wholesale "market house" business, selling wines and spirits, including their brand of blended whisky, Cabinet, to the retail licensed trade.

An outbreak of fire on 26 April 1922 destroyed most of the distillery buildings and large stocks of barley and malt. The cost of the damage was estimated at £0; but the fire brigade, "greatly assisted" by Cameron Highlanders from the adjoining barracks, saved the stillhouse and warehouses, containing whisky valued at £0. The distillery had always enjoyed good relations with the regiment. One of the recent owners, Lt. Col. David Price Haig, had been a Territorial officer in the Camerons for thirty years, had raised the 7th Battalion at Inverness in 1917, and still commanded the 3rd Battalion.

Restoration of the buildings, entrusted to the most experienced of distillery engineers, Charles Doig of Elgin, was in progress by October. Doig built new malt barns equipped with a system of elevators and conveyors to manipulate the barley and malt at every stage of the process. This machinery was worked by a gas engine of 20 h.p. The new distillery plant was capable of produc-ing 10 gallons per year, compared with 0 in 1887, and the four warehouses had accommodation for one million gallons of maturing whisky. To enable the workforce to control a fire independently of the fire brigade, the firm installed a Merryweather fire engine and pump that could throw two jets of water, 90 feet high, over the tallest buildings on the site. Booth's bought Wm. Sanderson & Son Ltd., blenders of Vat 69Scotch whisky, in 1935 and was itself taken over by The Distillers Company Limited, of Edinburgh, in 1937. Millburn Distillery closed shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939, and was used as a billet for troops. Ownership was transferred to a subsidiary, Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd. in 1943. Distillation restarted around 1945.

Millburn's two pot stills were externally heated by coal-burning, hand-fired furnaces until 1958, when stoking was mechanised. Electric power from the national grid was introduced in the same year, replacing the steam engine that drove. the malt mill, the mashing machinery, the pumps and the tunroom switchers. The stillhouse was rebuilt, and the stills converted to internal heating by steam from a coal-fired boiler, in 1966. There was no longer a need for a rummager in the wash still, and the water turbine that worked it was discarded. The boiler was converted to oil-firing four years later.

A Saladin box type of mechanical malting replaced the open floor system in 1964, and electric power superseded the gas engine.

Millburn occupies an area of approximately 7 acres (2.8 hectares). It draws its process water from Loch Duntelchaig, located about eight miles south of Inverness, and its cooling water from a dam fed by the Mill Burn, which flows across Inverness golf course, past the distillery, and into the Moray Firth, about a mile to the north.


1805   
De distilleerderij wordt gesticht
door een zekere Welsh als Inverness Distillery
1825   
Alexander Macdonald en James Rose
zijn de licentiehouders
1829   
De onderneming Macdonald & Rose
houdt op te bestaan
1853   
De graanhandelaar David Rose is
eigenaar, maar gebruikt het gebouwencomplex
wellicht voor andere doeleinden

1876   
Inverness Distillery wordt weer geschikt
gemaakt om whisky te produceren
1881   
George Rose, zoon van David Rose wordt
eigenaar
1892   
Andrew Haig & Co koopt de distilleerderij
1904   
De distilleerderij krijgt de naam Millburn
1921   
Booth's Distillers Limited (gin producent)
te Londen, wordt eigenaar
1922   
Millburn wordt bijna totaal door brand verwoest,
maar nog in hetzelfde jaar
weer herbouwd

1935   
Booth's Distillers gaat samen met
William Sanderson & Co
1937   
Sanderson & Booth's worden overgenomen
door Distillers Company Limited.
(D.C.L.)
1943   
Millburn gaat deel uitmaken van
Scottish Malt Distillers Limited, de S.M.D.
de malt divisie van de D.C.L.
1964
Mating closed new Saladinbox
installed
1984
Saladinbox malting closed and demolished
1985   
De produktie stopt
1988   
De inventaris wordt weggehaald en
in het gebouwencomplex wordt een
steakhouse
gevestigd: The Auld Distillery,
van de restaurantketen Beefeater

Naast Millburn werden in de serie Rare Malts Selection in Maart 1995 ook St. Magdalene, Dallas Dhu en Brora uitgebracht door United Distillers Ltd.

Named after the pure waters of Mill Burn near Inverness, the distillery had strong links to the local
Cameron Highlanders regiment through the nineteenth century.
Millburn ceased distilling in 1985, therefore this fine 18 year old is one
of the last available vintages and represents the whisky at its best.

Millburn, originally known as 'Inverness Distillery ' before others were built in the town,
was one of three distilleries in Inverness alongside Glen Albyn and Glen Mohr.

It was named after the Mill Burn that provided the distillery with water from Loch Duntelchaig.

Like many distilleries that exited before 1823, information regarding the establishment
of the distillery is unclear, it is said that Millburn distillery was founded in 1807 with
other reports claiming an earlier dat of 1805.

Following the introduction of the Exise Act, which legalized whisky production, the distil -
lery  was bought from its founder , Mr Welsh by James Rose and Alexander MacDonald
in 1825. Records show that their company was liquidated in 1829 and then bought and
managed by Leslie McDonald and Co.  In 1837 it was bought by Colin Chisholm but it is
not known when the distillery ceased production.

It was some years later before the distillery began working again however it had now
been converted into a mill by new owner David Rose. Millburn remained as a mill from
1853 until 1876 when it was restored back to a working distillery.

David Rose's son George took over Millburn in 1881 and ran the distillery for eleven years
until it was acquired by Andrew Haig & Co in 1892. In 1921 the distillery was then passed
through the hands of London - based gin producer Booth's Distillers Ltd. However the
ownership was to be short - lived as the building was damaged to near - destruction in a
fire, a year later. Extensive re - building was required to renovate the distillery and in 1937
it was bought by Distillers Company (D.C.L.) a company which comprised Booth's Distillers
Ltd, William Sanderson & Co, among others.

Distillers Company Ltd transferred ownership of Millburn to Scottish malt Distillers Ltd (S.M.D.)
who later merged with Distillers Company Ltd, to form Diageo.

Due to unfavourable economic conditions and poor transportation links surrounding the
distillery, Millburn closed in 1985.

Millburn was the oldest of the remaining distilleries in Inverness that were all closed in the
1980's. Millburn was largely demolished in 1988 the same year as neighbouring Glen Al -
byn and two years after Glen Mhor in 1986.

For a time one of the buildings was retained and used to house a restaurant. The site upon
which Millburn stood has now been replaced with a premier Inn, accommodating an aptly
named  bar and restaurant ' The Auld Distillery'.

Process water was piped from Loch Duntelchaig, about 12 kilometres from the distillery.
Cooling water was obtained from the Mill Burn.

The malt came from Glen Ord  Maltings

There was a Porteus mill and the cast iron Mash tun had a capacity of 10 mashes a week.
Wash backs, made of Scottish larch, 4 with a capacity of each 18000 litres.

MillBurn distillery had 2 traditional onion shaped  indirect heated stills, each 13.500 litres

Cooling was performed by worms submerged in tubs. The maximum output was a
2.000.000 litres of spirit a year, but the last year it was only 600.000 litres

Millburn was always a small site – something which earmarked it for closure in the great cull of the early 1980s. Almost inevitably the casks which have leaked onto the market since then, often with good length of maturation, have shown it to be an excellent and slightly smoky malt in the bold Inverness style. The oldest examples from refill casks have a wonderful tropical fruit/leather interplay.

Millburn was by far the oldest of Inverness’ three distilleries, probably starting its pre-legal life as a farm distillery built alongside the river which powered a number of mill wheels. The distillery itself gained legal status at some point between 1805 and 1807, but no whisky appears to have been made.

A second attempt to fire up the stills took place in 1825 and while it ran for a few years, like so many of the small enterprises which started up after the 1823 Excise Act its owners were new to the world of commerce – many were former moonshining farmers. As a result it became one of a host of start-ups which closed again in the 1850s. In Millburn’s case it went back to being a flour mill, run by David Rose.

He had a change of heart in the 1870s as whisky began to grown in popularity and in 1876 Rose not only restarted Millburn but rebuilt and expanded it. His son George then took charge before selling to Alexander and David Haig in 1892.

These scions of the mighty Lowland distilling dynasty owned it until 1921 when ownership passed to London-based gin distiller Booth’s, which had to rebuild the site the following year after a fire. Booth’s itself (which by then owned William Sanderson of Vat 69 fame) became part of DCL in 1937.

Millburn ran steadily until 1985, when the increasing depth of the whisky loch forced its closure. Any chance of it reopening were stymied in 1990 when a restaurant chain bought the site and renamed the building The Auld Distillery, though with the trend for small-scale distilling who knows if a micro-site might just spring up. It would be the least Inverness deserves.

1805
Distillery registered on site to Mr Welsh,
although there is no evidence of production
taking place
1825
Distilling commences under the ownership
of Ross & Macdonald
1851
Production ceases at Millburn
1853
The site is bought by David Rose and
converted back to a flour mill
1876
Rose recommences whisky-making in
newly expanded distillery
1892
George Rose sells to Alexander and
David Haig who refurbish the distillery
1921
The Haig brothers sell to Booth’s
1937
Booth’s is bought by DCL and Millburn
becomes part of its SMD division
1966
Direct firing is stopped
1985
The distillery closes
1990
The buildings are sold to Beefeater
Restaurants

Diageo
1997 - present
United Distillers
1986 - 1997
Distillers Company Limited
1937 - 1986
Booth's Gin Distillery
1921 - 1937
Alexander & David Haig
1892 - 1921
The Rose Family
1853 - 1892
Colin Chisholm
1837 - 1853
James Ross and Alexander Macdonald
1825 - 1837
Alexander McCallum & Co
1817 - 1825
Mr Welsh
1805 - 1817

Millburn was gesloten gedurende de tweede wereldoorlog.

In 1943
werd Millburn onderdeel van
Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd, de malt diviesie
van de D.C.L.
In 1945
werd Millburn weer opgestart.
In 1964
werd de vloermouterij vervangen door het
Saladin systeem.
In 1966
werd het ketelhuis herbouwd en vanaf dan
worden de ketels met stoom verhit.
vanaf 1985
De kolengestookte ketels werden
mechanisch van kolen voorzien, en ook in
datzelfde jaar werd Millburn aangesloten op het
electricteitsnet.

Het proceswater is afkomstig van Loch Duntelchaig,
het koelwater van een reservoir dat wordt gevoed
door de Mill Burn.

Millburn werd in 1988 gesloten en ontmanteld.

Millburn was een belangrijke komponent in de vatted malt Mill Burn en de blend Glen Lyon.


October 2005
Diageo has announced that its 2005 Annual Rare Malts Selection will be the last.

The collection will consist of four cask strenght
single malts from closed distilleries;
Glen Mhor 28 years old,
Millburn 35 years old,
Glendullan 26 years old and
Linkwood 30 years old.

Dr. Nicholas Morgan, global malts marketing director commented: 'As the Special Releases are now well established, it makes less sence to continue selecting and promoting a parallel series of Rare Malts with his own separate indentity'.

In future, all premium and rare whiskies will be made available in the annual Special Releases series.

Established by 1807 and rebuilt by David Rose in 1876, now-closed Millburn (a mill, by an Inverness burn) was later owned by the Haig family.


Millburn Distillery is located about one mile east of the centre of Inverness, on the main road to Nairn. It was built on the banks of the stream from which it, and the district, take their name. The identities of the founders, and the year when the distillery was established, are not certain. The earliest recorded reference dates from 1825, when James Rose and Alex Macdonald were named as the licence-holders. The Inverness Journal stated on 25 March 1829 that "the sessions lands of Diriebught were on this day let on a fourteen years' lease to the Millburn Distillery Co." at a rent of £136 per annum. The company ceased production some time after 1837.David Rose, a corn merchant in Inverness, obtained a feu of the site, which he used as a flour mill, in 1853. At that time five mills, for the manufacture of oatmeal, flour and cloth, were working along the Mill Burn, with rights to use its water. In 1876, Rose applied for the use of the town's water supply, and commissioned a local architect named Ross to design a new and larger distillery. This was described by the Inverness Courier on 19 October 1876, three weeks after it opened. The square main building housed the engine room, mill room, mash house, tunroom, stillhouse, spirit store and warehouses, and a wing contained the offices, "comfortably and tastefully fitted up", and the maltings. The supply from the Mill Burn was to be supplemented by Lochashie water "as soon as the latter is introduced into the town."

David Rose conveyed the property in 1883 to his son George, also a corn merchant, who worked the distillery until 1892. It was sold in that year to Alexander Price Haig and his brother David Price Haig. They were members of a family that supplied many entrepreneurs to the whisky industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

A. Haig & Co. increased productive capacity in 1898 to meet the peak of rising demand for malt whisky. A trade paper reported in February 1899 that "the whole of the internal arrangments have been remodelled and the plant and machinery are entirely new." All the machinery was driven by a steam engine of 16 h.p. and a water turbine of 8 h.p.
The whisky industry was in the doldrums in the years following the war of 1914 to 1918. Millburn Distillery was sold in 1921 to Booth's Distillery Ltd. of London, for £0. Booth's were gin rectifiers, but also carried on a wholesale "market house" business, selling wines and spirits, including their brand of blended whisky, Cabinet, to the retail licensed trade.
An outbreak of fire on 26 April 1922 destroyed most of the distillery buildings and large stocks of barley and malt. The cost of the damage was estimated at £0; but the fire brigade, "greatly assisted" by Cameron Highlanders from the adjoining barracks, saved the stillhouse and warehouses, containing whisky valued at £0. The distillery had always enjoyed good relations with the regiment. One of the recent owners, Lt. Col. David Price Haig, had been a Territorial officer in the Camerons for thirty years, had raised the 7th Battalion at Inverness in 1917, and still commanded the 3rd Battalion.

Restoration of the buildings, entrusted to the most experienced of distillery engineers, Charles Doig of Elgin, was in progress by October. Doig built new malt barns equipped with a system of elevators and conveyors to manipulate the barley and malt at every stage of the process. This machinery was worked by a gas engine of 20 h.p. The new distillery plant was capable of produc-ing 10 gallons per year, compared with 0 in 1887, and the four warehouses had accommodation for one million gallons of maturing whisky. To enable the workforce to control a fire independently of the fire brigade, the firm installed a Merryweather fire engine and pump that could throw two jets of water, 90 feet high, over the tallest buildings on the site. Booth's bought Wm. Sanderson & Son Ltd., blenders of Vat 69Scotch whisky, in 1935 and was itself taken over by The Distillers Company Limited, of Edinburgh, in 1937. Millburn Distillery closed shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939, and was used as a billet for troops. Ownership was transferred to a subsidiary, Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd. in 1943. Distillation restarted around 1945.
Millburn's two pot stills were externally heated by coal-burning, hand-fired furnaces until 1958, when stoking was mechanised. Electric power from the national grid was introduced in the same year, replacing the steam engine that drove. the malt mill, the mashing machinery, the pumps and the tunroom switchers. The stillhouse was rebuilt, and the stills converted to internal heating by steam from a coal-fired boiler, in 1966. There was no longer a need for a rummager in the wash still, and the water turbine that worked it was discarded. The boiler was converted to oil-firing four years later.
A Saladin box type of mechanical malting replaced the open floor system in 1964, and electric power superseded the gas engine.
Millburn occupies an area of approximately 7 acres (2.8 hectares). It draws its process water from Loch Duntelchaig, located about eight miles south of Inverness, and its cooling water from a dam fed by the Mill Burn, which flows across Inverness golf course, past the distillery, and into the Moray Firth, about a mile to the north.

1805   
De distilleerderij wordt gesticht door
een zekere Welsh als Inverness Distillery
1825   
Alexander Macdonald en James Rose
zijn de licentiehouders
1829   
De onderneming Macdonald & Rose
houdt op te bestaan
1853   
De graanhandelaar David Rose is
eigenaar, maar gebruikt het g
gebouwencomplex
wellicht voor andere doeleinden

1876   
Inverness Distillery wordt weer geschikt
gemaakt om whisky te produceren
1881   
George Rose, zoon van David Rose wordt
eigenaar
1892   
Andrew Haig & Co koopt de distilleerderij
1904   
De distilleerderij krijgt de naam Millburn
1921   
Booth's Distillers Limited (gin producent)
te Londen, wordt eigenaar
1922   
Millburn wordt bijna totaal door brand
verwoest, maar nog in hetzelfde jaar
weer herbouwd

1935   
Booth's Distillers gaat samen met
William Sanderson & Co van Vat 69
1937   
Sanderson & Booth's worden
overgenomen door
Distillers Company Limited.
(D.C.L.)

1943   
Millburn gaat deel uitmaken van
Scottish Malt Distillers Limited, de
S.M.D.
de malt divisie van de D.C.L.
1985   
De produktie stopt
1988   
De inventaris wordt weggehaald
en in het gebouwencomplex
wordt een steakhouse
gevestigd: The Auld Distillery,
van de restaurantketen Beefeater

Naast Millburn werden in de serie Rare Malts Selection in Maart 1995 ook St. Magdalene,
Dallas Dhu en Brora uitgebracht door United Distillers Ltd.
Named after the pure waters of Mill Burn near Inverness, the distillery had strong links
to the local Cameron Highlanders regiment through the nineteenth century. Millburn
ceased distilling in 1985, therefore this fine 18 year old is one of the last available vintages
and represents the whisky at its best.

1995   
Millburn 18 years old and distilled in
1975
is the first official bottling
in the Rare Malts series
  
2001   
Millburn 25 years old and distilled
in 1975 is launched as a Rare Malts
2005   
Millburn 35 years old and distilled in
1969 is launched as a Rare Malt

Millburn, originally known as 'Inverness Distillery ' before others were built in the town,
was one of three distilleries in Inverness alongside Glen Albyn and Glen Mohr.

It was named after the Mill Burn that provided the distillery with water from Loch Duntelchaig.

Like many distilleries that exited before 1823, information regarding the establishment
of the distillery is unclear, it is said that Millburn distillery was founded in 1807 with
other reports claiming an earlier dat of 1805.

Following the introduction of the Exise Act, which legalized whisky production, the distil -
lery  was bought from its founder , Mr Welsh by James Rose and Alexander MacDonald
in 1825. Records show that their company was liquidated in 1829 and then bought and
managed by Leslie McDonald and Co.  In 1837 it was bought by Colin Chisholm but it is
not known when the distillery ceased production.

It was some years later before the distillery began working again however it had now
been converted into a mill by new owner David Rose. Millburn remained as a mill from
1853 until 1876 when it was restored back to a working distillery.

David Rose's son George took over Millburn in 1881 and ran the distillery for eleven years
until it was acquired by Andrew Haig & Co in 1892. In 1921 the distillery was then passed
through the hands of London - based gin producer Booth's Distillers Ltd. However the
ownership was to be short - lived as the building was damaged to near - destruction in a
fire, a year later. Extensive re - building was required to renovate the distillery and in 1937
it was bought by Distillers Company (D.C.L.) a company which comprised Booth's Distillers
Ltd, William Sanderson & Co, among others.

Distillers Company Ltd transferred ownership of Millburn to Scottish malt Distillers Ltd (S.M.D.)
who later merged with Distillers Company Ltd, to form Diageo.

Due to unfavourable economic conditions and poor transportation links surrounding the
distillery, Millburn closed in 1985.

Millburn was the oldest of the remaining distilleries in Inverness that were all closed in the
1980's. Millburn was largely demolished in 1988 the same year as neighbouring Glen Al -
byn and two years after Glen Mhor in 1986.

For a time one of the buildings was retained and used to house a restaurant. The site upon
which Millburn stood has now been replaced with a premier Inn, accommodating an aptly
named  bar and restaurant ' The Auld Distillery'.

Process water was piped from Loch Duntelchaig, about 12 kilometres from the distillery.
Cooling water was obtained from the Mill Burn.

The malt came from Glen Ord  Maltings

There was a Porteus mill and the cast iron Mash tun had a capacity of 10 mashes a week.
Wash backs, made of Scottish larch, 4 with a capacity of each 18000 litres.

MillBurn distillery had 2 traditional onion shaped  indirect heated stills, each 13.500 litres

Cooling was performed by worms submerged in tubs. The maximum output was a
2.000.000 litres of spirit a year, but the last year it was only 600.000 litres

Millburn was always a small site – something which earmarked it for closure in the great cull of the early 1980s. Almost inevitably the casks which have leaked onto the market since then, often with good length of maturation, have shown it to be an excellent and slightly smoky malt in the bold Inverness style. The oldest examples from refill casks have a wonderful tropical fruit/leather interplay.

Millburn was by far the oldest of Inverness’ three distilleries, probably starting its pre-legal life as a farm distillery built alongside the river which powered a number of mill wheels. The distillery itself gained legal status at some point between 1805 and 1807, but no whisky appears to have been made.

A second attempt to fire up the stills took place in 1825 and while it ran for a few years, like so many of the small enterprises which started up after the 1823 Excise Act its owners were new to the world of commerce – many were former moonshining farmers. As a result it became one of a host of start-ups which closed again in the 1850s. In Millburn’s case it went back to being a flour mill, run by David Rose.

He had a change of heart in the 1870s as whisky began to grown in popularity and in 1876 Rose not only restarted Millburn but rebuilt and expanded it. His son George then took charge before selling to Alexander and David Haig in 1892.

These scions of the mighty Lowland distilling dynasty owned it until 1921 when ownership passed to London-based gin distiller Booth’s, which had to rebuild the site the following year after a fire. Booth’s itself (which by then owned William Sanderson of Vat 69 fame) became part of DCL in 1937.

Millburn ran steadily until 1985, when the increasing depth of the whisky loch forced its closure. Any chance of it reopening were stymied in 1990 when a restaurant chain bought the site and renamed the building The Auld Distillery, though with the trend for small-scale distilling who knows if a micro-site might just spring up. It would be the least Inverness deserves.


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