Caperdonich Whisky

Caperdonich was a Speyside single malt distillery in Rothes, originally built in 1898 by the founders of Glen Grant and first known as Glen Grant No. 2. Its early life was short-lived, with production stopping after only a few years, before the distillery was revived in the 1960s under the Caperdonich name.

For most of its second life, Caperdonich worked quietly as a blending malt, contributing to whiskies such as Chivas Regal rather than building a major single malt identity of its own. It was later owned by Pernod Ricard through Chivas Brothers, closed in 2002 and was demolished around 2010–11, leaving no active distillery behind. Some of its equipment found new life elsewhere, including stills that were repurposed by other distillers.

Surviving Caperdonich bottlings are now drawn from finite stocks, with both official releases and independent bottlings helping to define its reputation after closure. The whisky is often elegant and fruit-led, showing notes of apple, pear, honey, vanilla, malt and soft spice, with older casks developing more waxy fruit, polished oak, gentle tropical notes and a rounded Speyside sweetness.

Caperdonich has become more appreciated in absence than it ever was in its working years. Its remaining bottlings offer a glimpse of a quiet Rothes distillery that spent most of its life behind the scenes, yet now stands as one of Speyside’s more intriguing closed names.