VisitingBraeval is not open to the public.
One of Scotland's remotest distilleries - in the far South of Speyside, an area where many illicit stills were situated in the early 1800s. Also one of very few Scottish Distilleries that have yet to have been subjected to my lens - hence the lack of photos on this page. Vital Stats
Braeval was built in the 1970s by Chivas Brothers, then part of Seagram as a functional distillery aimed at efficient production of large volumes of whisky with single person operation - similarly to Allt-a-Bhainne. There are no warehouses on site - the spirit is tankered to Keith for filling and maturation. It does sport a fake pagoda to better blend into its remote location. It was initially built by
Was mothballed in 2002 by Pernod Ricard shortly after they bought Chivas Brothers, but resumed production in 2008. Braeval was initially known as Braes of Glenlivet, but the name was changed probably because Chivas, as owners of The Glenlivet, were seeking to end the practice of other distilleries using the Glenlivet suffix. Braeval is actually one of the three distilleries in Glenlivet - the highest not only in the Glen but vies with Dalwhinnie as the highest in Scotland - both are roughly 355 metres. Some sources put Braeval 100ft above Dalwhinnie, not sure what they were measuring with. OS maps give figures around 355 - there's not much in it, but some parts of the Dalwhinnie site appear to be a little higher. Malt Madness Wikipedia WhiskyMerchants.co.uk scotchwhisky.com |
Getting ThereClick the Google logo on the above map to access Street View, Directions etc.
Open Cycle Map Bing Map Allt-a-Bhainne Glenlivet Tamnavulin Tomintoul Distilleries Speyside Distilleries Avon/Livet/Fiddich Nearest National Rail stations are Elgin (ELG) (33 miles), Carrbridge (CAG) (31) Keith (KEH) (28) or Aviemore (AVM) (33). Live train times: ELG ,CAG, KEH, AVM. The preserved Strathspey railway runs to and Broomhill (23) - 3 trips a day, most days in Summer. The preserved Keith & Dufftown railway runs up to 3 trips a day at weekends in summer, some Fridays too & during Speyside Festivals to Dufftown Station (18). Braeval Distillery is 12 miles from Bridge of Avon, near Ballindalloch on the A95 - follow the B9008 past Tamnavulin Distillery to a small hamlet called Auchnarrow and follow the signs for Chapeltown of Glenlivet, 8 miles from the village of Tomintoul on the B9008, 17 miles from Dufftown via B9009/B9008. Whichever way you come from, the junction at Auchnarrow for Chapeltown is the only way to Braeval - well you could try tracks over the top of the Ladder Hills... RangeBraeval has never released an official bottling
Occasional independent bottlings. Most spirit is destined for Chivas Regal, 100 Piper, Passport blends. RMW TWE MoM CyclingNearest Bike shops Slochd (34 miles), Grantown (21), Elgin (33), Forres (31) Aviemore (33)
Ian Bishop Bikes Railway Cottages, Slochd, Carrbridge 01479 841666 Base Camp Bikes 5 The Square, Grantown 01479 870050 Bikes and Bowls 7 High Street, Elgin 01343 549656 Halfords Lossie Wynd N, Elgin 01343 552030 Stuarts Cycles & Sports Goods 32 High Street, Forres 01309 672432 Bothy Bikes 5 Granish Way, Dalfaber, Aviemore 01479 810111 Charlie Millett Dufftown 01340 820991 Not a shop - has a page on the Dufftown.net website - provides repairs and spares - assisted Whisky Cyclist in 2014 when stranded in Craigellachie with a damaged tyre and in 2017 with a broken pedal. |
Photos on this page were taken by me. Click on photo to enlarge. Full size versions of all my photos of Braeval Distillery are available on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martynjenkins/sets/72157627432974973/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martynjenkins/sets/72157627432974973/