Ardnamurchan

The name Adelphi comes from a Glasgow distillery. According to an account published by The Whiskey Wash as partner content, Charles and David Gray founded the Adelphi Distillery in the Gorbals in 1826; A. Walker & Co bought it in 1880, the Distillers Company bought it in 1903 and malt distilling ended by 1907, and the buildings were demolished between 1968 and 1971.

The same account says Jamie Walker, great-grandson of Archibald Walker, revived the name in 1993 as an independent bottler of single casks, often at cask strength; Companies House records Adelphi Distillery Limited as incorporated in December 1992. Keith Falconer and Donald Houston bought the business in 2004, and in 2014 it opened the Ardnamurchan distillery. Companies House lists a Falconer among the company's persons with significant control.

The distillery stands in the small village of Glenbeg, halfway along the Ardnamurchan peninsula on the west coast, in the Highland region. The company translates Ardnamurchan as "Headland of the Great Seas" and matures its whisky in its own dunnage warehouses close to the North Atlantic. The Glenmore river supplies cooling water and drives a hydro-electric generator; the spring water used to reduce the spirit also comes from Glenmore. Woodchip for the biomass boiler comes from forestry within 15 miles (24 km).

The mash tun was built to fit across the narrowest bridge on the peninsula road, 3.2 m. Fermentation runs in four wooden washbacks (one oak, three Oregon pine) and three stainless steel ones. The copper wash still holds 10,000 litres and the spirit still 6,000 litres, the latter with a boil ball for extra reflux; shell-and-tube condensers stand outside the building. The new make is cut at about 75% ABV and reduced to 63.5% for filling. Steam for the stills comes from a woodchip boiler, and draff and reduced pot ale are made into animal feed for local farms.

The company says the whole process was designed for a west-coast profile: "gentle peat smoke, rich and oily with honey, fruit and salinity on the palate". It believes the coastal air of its warehouses adds something that cannot be copied elsewhere. Adelphi's earlier bottlings of other distilleries' casks, according to The Whiskey Wash, were known for natural cask strength without chill-filtration or added colouring.