There was already a distillery with the name Aberlour in 1826, founded by Peter Weir and James Gordon. On the bottles, however, 1879 is given as the year of the distillery’s founding, as the distillery was rebuilt on a new site in that year after a major fire. Aberlour is located directly at the foot of Ben Rinne, which also serves as a water source, and thus in the heart of Speyside. Since 1974, the distillery has been owned by the Pernod Ricard group and managed by their Scottish subsidiary Chivas Brothers. In 1973, the distillery was expanded to 4 stills and is thus able to produce an annual volume of up to 3,500,000 litres of pure alcohol.

As part of the production process, the focus is particularly on local ingredients such as barley and particularly soft water. The spirit itself is usually matured for at least 12 years in a combination of hand-selected oloroso sherry casks and American oak barrels. From this double maturation, the blend masters expect a rich and complex palette of flavours. However, wine barrel post-maturing is often used as well. All in all, this results in a style that is not smoky, generally sweet and tends to be more fruity than spicy.