Old Ballantruan The Peated Malt

Tomintoul Distillery lies within The Glenlivet Estate which forms part of the most famous Scotch whisky producing region “Speyside Glenlivet”. 

The main reason for the area producing Scotch whisky of the highest quality is the purity of the spring water and the clean fresh air in which the whisky could mature. 

After a year of testing various springs the owners found one on Carn Ballantruan, a hill midway between the village of Tomintoul and Glenlivet, from which water of the highest quality flowed.  This was named the Ballantruan Spring.  The spring has probably been there for millions of years in this sparsely populated area and was a major discovery for the company which decided to build the distillery adjacent to the water supply.

One of the distinctive characteristics in Scotch whisky is the addition of peat* to give the flavour a rich smokiness and add long lasting depth of taste. The quantity and phenolic strength of the peated whisky will depend on the level of peated malted barley used in the distillation process. Using heavily peated malted barley with a total phenol content of 55ppm they produce their own special peated Scotch whisky which after maturation they  call “Old Ballantruan”, named after the pure spring water supply.