Cardhu or Cardow Distillery

The Stillhouse

What's in a name? Sometimes not a lot. You don't have to go far back in time to find books about Scotland in which many names are spelled differently from the way we've come to accept them today.

Visitor Centre Entrance Distillery from the Car Park Visitor Centre Shop Mash Tun Inside the Mashtun Bonded Warehouse

Yet anyone wandering around Speyside in 2004 might have been struck by the changes to brown tourist signs previously directing visitors to Cardhu Distillery which now pointed instead to Cardow Distillery. Given that this distillery's visitor centre has always been one of the best signposted in the area, the changes to the direction signs must have been a fairly major undertaking.

Because, sometimes, there is a very great deal indeed in a name. In 2003, Cardhu sought to meet increasing demand for its whisky, especially in continental markets, by changing what had for many years been a single malt scotch whisky into what they called a "pure malt" scotch whisky by mixing with it other malts from other distilleries. The aim was to keep the taste the same, but to increase the stocks available for sale.

The result was uproar across Scotland as the industry complained that this change threatened to undermine the integrity of other producers' single malt whiskies: or even the market as a whole. Cardhu is owned by the Diageo Group and their first response was to change the name of the distillery to Cardow, thereby ensuring that the whisky and the distillery had different names. However, in March 2004 they announced that in future only single malt Cardhu would be produced, and pure malt Cardhu would be withdrawn.

Whether this opens the way for the distillery to revert to the name of Cardhu remains to be seen: if so, watch out for more changes to the brown tourist signs in the area. We've kept both names on this page just in case.

The Spirit Safe

The End You Usually See of Washbacks

...And The End You Don't

Two good things have come from this saga. The first is that it strengthens still further the definition of a single malt as a whisky coming from a particular distillery, usually with the same name as the whisky (though some distilleries produce more than one named single malt). The second is that it showed the power and the value of the concept of single malt scotch whisky: and made it much less likely that anyone else will try to tinker with the concept in future.

Setting aside the small matter of the name, Cardow Distillery must be one of the best located distilleries in Speyside. High on the hills on the north side of the Spey Valley with extensive views to the south, it is set in attractive grounds ideal for picnics (complete with picnic tables).

A tour of Cardow is an interesting experience. You can find out more about Making Malt Whisky from our series of feature pages showing the stages in the process. The distillery itself is not the prettiest in Scotland, but it is well laid out, with plenty of room to see what's going on.

In common with most distilleries these days, malting is done off site - at Burghead - but the tour takes in an excellent model showing the malting process which allows visitors to understand what they can't actually see in practice.

Coupled with a friendly welcome and well-guided tour, the location and layout make Cardow one of the better distilleries for those looking for a clear overview of the distillery process and a good day out.

Cardow's early history is as fascinating as its more recent story. In 1810 a farm here was worked by John Cumming who ran a profitable sideline as an illicit distiller: one of very many who did so across the area.

The relative seclusion of the location and the proximity of the hills to the north meant that when the Excisemen came calling, John could hide on higher ground while his wife Helen treated the visitors to dinner. When they had gone she removed a red flag hung on the back of the barn and John knew it was safe to reappear.

The 1823 Excise Act meant it was worthwhile for a small distiller like John Cumming to turn legal, and the Cummings (John and later his daughter-in-law Elizabeth) did so with considerable success, rebuilding the distillery three times to increase capacity by 1900.

Interestingly, in light of recent developments, the distillery was known for most of its early life by the Anglicised version of its name, "Cardow". The name was only changed to the Gaelic form "Cardhu", meaning black rock, (after a nearby feature on the River Spey) when single malt whiskies started to become fashionable and the Gaelic form of the name was thought more marketable.