The Oban Distillery

The Oban Distillery. 🥃 Perched at the gateway to the Scottish Isles in a town that quite literally grew up around it, this small traditional distillery is known for its fruit-forward whisky with a ‘barely there’ peaty undertone.

Region: Highland

Founded: By John & Hugh Stevenson in 1794

Current owner: Diageo

Range

There are 4 whiskies in Oban’s range:

14-year-old - ex-bourbon with notes of orange peel, smoke and sea salt

14-year-old Distillers Edition - finished in Montilla Fino sherry casks with notes of butterscotch, toffee and caramel

Little Bay – no-age-statement sweet and light whisky with notes of Christmas pudding, citrus and spice, triple matured

18-year-old – ex-bourbon with notes of stewed fruit, rich peat-smoke and spicy wood.

Fruity style

Oban is known for its particularly smooth, fruit-forward style of whisky produced in an unhurried, traditional way. So unhurried, in fact, that the Oban Distillery has one of the LONGEST production processes, with the fermentation stage usually running for around 120 hours in order to really enhance the fruit flavours.

Peat

Oban uses peat-dried malted barley in its production process but only in VERY SMALL quantities. Oban’s whiskies only register at a range of 1-2 PPM (phenol parts per million) which makes them one of the LOWEST in the industry. To give a comparison, Laphroaig’s peaty whiskies, for instance, range between 40-50 PPM.

Water

Oban’s water is sourced from Loch Gleann a’Bhearraidh, three miles away.

Worm tub

Oban is one of only around 20 Scotch whisky producers that still use a worm tub condenser. The stainless-steel condenser is exposed to the elements between 2 roofs above the distillery.

Distillery

The distillery is one of the smallest in Scotland, trapped between the town around it, the ocean in front, and steep cliffs behind. It produces whisky in just 4 rooms onsite and only takes up an acre of land.

It has never expanded and will never be able to expand.

7 Members of Staff

The Oban Distillery is operated by only 7 members of staff. They are regarded as guardians of Oban’s whisky-making process, and some are the second or third generation in their family to have worked there.

Fun Fact: Oban roughly translates to ‘Little Bay of Caves’ in Gaelic. The bay of Oban is a perfect horseshoe shape and is known for its spectacular sunsets. 🌅

Have you ever tried an Oban? Have you ever visited the distillery? Let me know in the comments.

#whisky #scotchwhisky #scotland