Tormore Distillery’s renewed focus on fruit-forward whisky
Whisky Business: Morning Wire’s monthly look at the world of whisky.
When it opened its doors in 1960, Tormore became one of the first new distilleries of the 20th century.
Built by drinks conglomerate Schenley, it became known as the ‘pearl of Speyside’ thanks to its size and unique art deco design. Schenley wanted a showpiece, and so commissioned Sir Albert Richardson, then president of the Royal Academy, to design the site.
The final plan incorporated a cock tower (designed to ring out traditional Scottish tunes every 15 minutes), a copper roof and an outdoor curling pond. Described as part palace, part power station and not dissimilar to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, it was granted listed building status in 1986.
Tormore Distillery: The next stage
When brothers Sukhinder and Rajbir Singh sold The Whisky Exchange to Pernod Ricard in 2021 for an undisclosed sum, the deal left the duo with Elixir Distillers and its Portintruan distillery on Islay (still under construction).
“We’re moving into distilling with Portintruan on Islay but we won’t have whisky for a number of years,” says Sukhinder. “We knew Speyside whisky would be a wonderful complement to our current offering,” he adds.
That led to initial conversations with Pernod and the acquisition of Tormore in 2022. “We knew Tormore made exceptional whisky, and we wouldn’t need to start from scratch,” he adds. “And for me, it’s truly the most beautiful distillery in Speyside, possibly Scotland.”
Tormore’s existing stocks and established fruity character also appealed to buyers. “Tormore has a wonderful inventory of aged stock that we can get our teeth into,” says Sukhinder.
After buying Tormore, Elixir revamped the distillery – bringing on manager Polly Logan and head blender Oliver Chilton (since promoted to master blender) to lead the production team in 2023.
Last year, the distillery launched its first releases under the new owners. The Blueprint Series, a set of three single malts that serve as a preview or blueprint of a new Tormore single malt range – the Blueprint Bourbon Cask, Cream Sherry Cask and American Oak Toasted Barrel.
Following these limited editions, the full relaunch is planned for June, along with the opening of the distillery for tours.
Tormore’s fruit-forward whisky
While the brand is launching at a difficult time for the industry, the team believes its flavour profile will help it stand out.
“From a distilling perspective, we’re really happy with the set up at Tormore as it gives that great fruit-forward spirit”, Sukhinder says. “I honestly believe that a lot of single malts today have lost fruity character.”
Polly Logan, Tormore’s distillery manager, says the team has spent the last three years trying to enhance fruit-forward notes, looking at traditional Scottish barley varieties like Laurette and Sassy. As part of the process, a proportion of ale yeast is added alongside a slightly older distillers yeast.
“[It adds] beautiful fruity character but gives a good level of body and weight that we’re looking for in the final spirit,” Logan says.
“We’ve also slowed down production,” she adds, “elongating the fermentations by a few hours,” to give more time to “care for and gently produce our spirit.”
Portintruan, on the other hand, is a “clean slate, letting us develop a production process that focuses on flexibility,” notes Sukhinder. “Our core purpose with Portintruan is flavour creation so we’re allowing ourselves to delve deep into the elements of distilling that really affect flavour.”
Tormore’s new range has been designed to showcase the whisky’s fruit flavour as well as its versatility. It also speaks to Sukhinder’s desire to create the sort of easy-drinking, accessible whisky he grew up with in the 1960s and 70s.
Alongside the launch of the new range, Tormore is also working on reopening the distillery at some point in the future, and the brothers are working on breathing new life into the vast estate surrounding it.
“At present the estate is very much a separate entity to the distillery,” says Sukhinder.
“Regeneration and rewilding of the land is the current focus for the estate whilst we build the Tormore name.”