Pittyvaich

The Pittyvaich distillery, built in 1974 by Arthur Bell & Sons, was among the youngest Scottish distilleries while it was operating. It stood near the Dufftown Distillery in Dufftown.

Originally built to provide malt whisky for blends, Pittyvaich eventually did release an official bottling in 1991. Prior to the official bottling, a number of independent bottlers (including Signatory Vintage and Cadenhead's) released Pittyvaich as a single malt.


Pittyvach was a utilitarian-looking distillery which was built for purely commercial purposes and was Arthur Bell & Sons’ response to the sudden leap in the brand’s fortunes in the 1970s when it became Britain’s top-selling blend and anything seemed possible.

The firm already ran the Dufftown distillery and so in 1975 erected a shed next door and installed two – eventually four – stills inside. Bell’s was bought by Guinness in 1985, with the latter firm going on to controversially purchase DCL the year after to form United Distillers. A period of rationalisation of distilling capacity followed and Pittyvaich was considered as surplus to requirements. It closed in 1993 and was demolished in 2002.