Knockdhu Distillery
Picture an expanse of barley fields, with a rich supply of peat and crisp, clear spring water close at hand. Couple that with the presence of the Great North of Scotland railway line on your doorstep and it’s not hard to see why John Morrison embraced the opportunity to turn a gift of nature into something unique to share with the world.
Knockdhu distillery's enduring charisma echoes the timeless allure of the nearby Black Hill or 'Knockdhu' in Gaelic. It provides the distillery with not only its name, but is the source of the pure, clear spring water required to make anCnoc's whisky.
The brand name anCnoc (Gaelic for ‘the hill’ and pronounced ‘a-nock’), however, lends it the unusual distinction of not being named after the distillery which produces it.
Capacity - 1.75MLPA
Shell and tube condensers
Spirit Still Charge 14,300L
One racked and three dunnage warehouses
Wooden washbacks
Water source - Four springs from Knock Hill
Gordon Bruce
Distillery Manager
Born and raised in Wick, Gordon started working for Inver House Distillers in 1988 as a Mashman in his home town’s Pulteney Distillery. Whilst there, he progressed to Stillman, Under Brewer and then Brewer, before moving to Balblair Distillery in 1994.
In 2006 he became Manager of Knockdhu Distillery in Aberdeenshire, home of anCnoc single malt whisky. Drawn to the business by Inver House’s distinctive quality and diversity of whiskies, his career highlight is seeing drinkers enjoy anCnoc whiskies whilst knowing that he had a hand in their production. His day-to-day role involves a varied mix: whisky making, welcoming visitors from around the world, engineering and working alongside the enthusiastic and dedicated team that is based at this small, traditional, hands-on distillery.
A proud Keeper of the Quaich, he loves spending time with his wife, three brilliant kids, his grandchild and his dogs.
Sustainability at Knockdhu Distillery
Our commitment to sustainability runs through all that we do. From water stewardship to energy efficiency, our pro-active approach has been years in the making and we work closely with the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) in our efforts to achieve net-zero carbon by 2040.
Water Stewardship
Knockdhu Distillery further extended its commitment to sustainability by developing an ecological co-product treatment system on-site at the distillery – The Knockdhu Wetlands. The system consists of six separate aggregate-filled Bentomat lined cells, working in two pairs of three cells. The system works completely on gravity. Spent lees and tun room washing water are collected in a sediment settling tank, from here the effluent runs through the ETS.
In numbers, the wetlands have a surface area of 2000m2 and are home to just under 21,000 plants comprising 17 different species. The different species target different compounds in the co-product, final discharge is clean enough to drink. The system, which has full support from SEPA, has proved to be highly successful at copper removal, pH correction and removal of both COD and BOD.
Energy Reduction
In summer 2023 Knockdhu installed a new Thermal Vapour Recompression (TVR) system which will greatly reduce energy consumption resulting in less LPG being used. The TVR will reuse low energy/temperature waste heat from the distillation process. This low energy/temperature heat is recompressed through a venturi system by using steam, fed from a fossil fuel fired primary source, as the motive power to recompress it into high energy/temperature vapour which is then suitable as the primary heat source for reuse in the wash distillation process again. This saves approximately 30% fossil fuel usage within the wash distillation process.
Co-products
Pot Ale is processed by Grissan to produce Biomethane, which is fed into the national grid. Spent lees and washing waters processed through wetlands.
Installation of 6 separate wetland cells totalling 2000m2 resulted in 10 tankers being taken off the road weekly.
Distillery Location
Our distillery’s enduring charisma echoes the timeless allure of the nearby Black Hill, known as Knockdhu in Gaelic. It provides us with not only our name, but the source of the many springs of pure, clear water required to make our whisky. However, the brand name anCnoc (Gaelic for ‘the hill’ and pronounced ‘a-nock’) lends it the unusual distinction of not being named after the distillery which produces it.
Distillery Location
Knockdhu Distillery
Knock
Aberdeenshire
Huntly
AB54 7LJ
United Kingdom