About Us

Our founder, Sir Alexander Ramsay was one of the Scottish landowners who campaigned to legalise and license Scotch Whisky distillation, culminating in the 1823 Excise Act. In 1824, he was one of the first to apply for a license, and the Fettercairn distillery was opened. 

Ramsay was a canny businessman, and he recruited illegal whisky makers to be his first stillmen. He recognised only they had the knowledge and skills he needed.

In 1829, Ramsay's Fasque estate, on which the distillery sits, was sold to the Gladstone family. Their most famous son was William Gladstone – British Prime Minister four times during the late nineteenth century. Gladstone was a great reformer for the Scotch Whisky industry. He abolished the taxes on malt and the Angel’s Share, and introduced legislation allowing Scotch to be sold in glass bottles for the first time. 

A fire causes significant damage to the distillery and much of the stocks are lost. A major rebuild over the next three years resulted in the formation of the Fettercairn Distillery Co. in 1890.

In the mid-1950s, under the management of Alexander Menzies, the whisky makers at Fettercairn sought new ways to create a purer expression of their spirit. They discovered that pouring water down the still cooled the copper, increasing condensation inside so only the lightest vapours would rise for collection. They fashioned a copper tube around the top of the still to continually douse it with water - an ingenious and practical solution which remains unique in Scotch whisky-making to this day. 

In January 1990 a young man from Fettercairn by the name of Stewart Walker joined the distillery team as a warehouse operator. In the subsequent decades he worked through production, mashing, distillation and brewing. In 2015, Stewart became distillery manager.

Inspired by a passion for provenance, Gregg Glass created the Scottish Oak Programme, focusing on exploring the possibilities with utilising native oak in Scottish Whisky production, and supporting traditional coopering skills. A decade on, and his efforts can be seen in our whisky, most notably in the Fettercairn 18 Year Old. 

Fettercairn was relaunched with a bright new look and packaging which paid tribute to the majesty of our unique copper cooling ring. Our whisky can now be found in great spirits retailers all across the globe. 

As part of our ongoing work with the Scottish Oak Programme, we planted 13,000 saplings in the fields adjacent to our distillery. Not only was this a testament to our support of local forestry and local wildlife conservation, it was a commitment to the future. Perhaps in a century or two, future generations will have whisky from a cask made from one of those trees.

2024 marked two centuries of Fettercairn distillery. To mark our anniversary, we launched a special Collection of six whiskies, ranging in age from three to 60 years, which celebrated the contribution of distillery team members and blenders past and present to our single malt spirit and its distinctive tropical house style.