Normally, a malt whisky bears the name of the distillery where it is produced. Not so with AnCnoc – it comes from the Knockdhu distillery (which was also the name of the whisky until 1993). An Cnoc comes from Gaelic and means “the hill”, Knockdhu in turn means “black mountain”, which is an allusion to Knock Hill near the distillery. The whisky was “renamed” by the owners in 1993 to avoid confusion with Knockando. The distillery, also closed several times over the years, was built in 1894, is located in the Eastern Highlands on the Speyside border and has been owned by Inver House Distillers since 1988. The first single malt from the distillery could only be enjoyed from 1990 onwards, before that it was mainly produced for blends. Malt from the distillery can still be found in Inver House’s blends today. The distillery has a wash still and a spirit still and produces about one million litres of alcohol per year.

The basic style tends to be light and fresh; since 2014, there have also been smoky whiskies on the market. Independent or, above all, older bottlings are extremely rare on the market. Most of the production is used for the company’s own core range or flows into the blends of Inver House as a core component.