The growing strength of Speyside’s whisky industry has been underlined again this week with the reopening of warehouses that have had their doors firmly closed for almost 30 years.
A firm of whisky brokers, Aceo, has taken a new 25-year lease on the dunnage warehouses at the Coleburn Distillery near Rothes which closed down in 1985.
The warehouses have been subjected to a £100,000 refurbishment and will be used by the firm to store their own ‘Murray McDavid’ brand alongside whiskies belonging to other clients.
Managing Director of the firm, Edward Odim, said: “Having a site of our own – especially such a historic and attractive one – presents us with a great opportunity to provide a better and more comprehensive service to our customers.
“It is exciting for me personally and for the rest of a Aceo team to be embarking on this new chapter in our history.”
The distillery site is currently owned by Dale and Mark Winchester, who purchased the site from Diageo ten years ago.
Their plans to create the first ever ‘whisky hotel’ on the site remain unchanged.
The planned 43-bed hotel with a spa, restaurant and parking for 550 vehicles received planning permission in 2009 – earlier this year the owners successfully applied for an 18-month extension on that project which is expected to create 100 new jobs.