Whisky operations

This part of the Edrington business comprises:

• Whisky distillation
• Whisky warehousing
• Cask supply and repairing
• Blending
• Whisky quality control
• Whisky stock management

Whisky distillation

The Group owns several malt whisky distilleries, including The Macallan, Highland Park, Glenrothes (though the brand is owned by BB & R), Tamdhu and Glenturret.

Total annual production capacity of over 17 million litres of alcohol. In addition, Edrington owns 50 per cent of The North British Distillery, which has an annual production capacity of over 60 million litres of alcohol.

Whisky warehousing

Edrington warehouses its whisky stocks at a number of sites across Scotland, with a total stockholding of over 300 million litres of bulk whisky.

Cask supply and repairing

In order to be called Scotch whisky, the Group's products must be matured in oak casks for a minimum of three years.

Edrington has over one million casks, made either from American Oak (ex bourbon) or European Oak (ex sherry wine). This includes over 50,000 casks in Spain, which are being "seasoned" with sherry wine prior to being delivered to Scotland for filling with whisky.

Given that Edrington uses casks more than once for the maturation of Scotch whisky, the Group also owns two cooperages in Scotland, which specialise in the repair of casks for re-use.

Blending

Edrington produces over 60 different whisky products, all of which require blending (mixing) before they are bottled. This blending operation is performed on the same site as the Group's bottling operation, and processes nearly 100 million bulk litres of whisky each year.

Whisky quality control

Throughout the whisky making process, the Group adopts rigorous quality control checks at all stages, from distillation to bottling. This focuses both on chemical and sensory analysis. The Group calculates that the liquid in each bottle of whisky it produces has experienced over 8,000 individual quality checks over the life of the whisky.

Whisky stock management

Whisky stocks are drawn from many distilleries across Scotland, as Edrington uses whisky from other distilleries - in common with the rest of the Scotch whisky industry. Edrington stocks whisky from over 70 different distilleries, ranging in ages dating back to 1926.