Cardhu Distillery

📌 Knockando, Moray
★★★

This large but attractive distillery is set on a hillside overlooking the River Spey in remote Knockando, west of Aberlour. It was the first Scotch whisky distillery to be run by a woman – Helen Cumming – in 1824, though perhaps not legally at this time. Now owned by Diageo, much of its spirit goes into Johnny Walker blends and the company has opted to make Cardhu its Speyside “home”; the golden statue of Helen Cumming and the Johnny Walker Striding Man on a mound above the car park makes for a good photo op. The visitor centre benefitted from a major refurb in advance of Cardhu’s 200th anniversary; it’s a while since we’ve been on the distillery tour here but we quite like the popular single malt.