Fortingall

Fortingall distillery

Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Fortingall was a short-lived distillery located near Garth Castle, a mansion and seat in the 1820s of Sir David Stewart of Garth, Governor of St Lucia and author of a book entitled Sketches of the Highlanders. Confusingly, there is another Garth Castle, a long-ruined fortified tower once a stronghold of the notorious Wolf of Badenoch. It lies a few miles to the north-east near the B846 road that runs from Aberfeldy north to Kinloch Rannoch.

The distillery’s exact location is uncertain but Garth Castle sits about a mile east of Fortingall, world-renowned for its 5,000-year-old yew tree in the village churchyard, and about two miles south-west of the village of Coshieville. A burn does flow through the castle grounds past some of the many estate buildings and down to the River Lyon, which in turn feeds into the Tay. It could have been the distillery’s water source but it is remotely possible that Sir David’s distillery was located in Fortingall itself beside the Allt Odhar (dun-coloured stream) that flows through the village. It is a particularly mysterious distillery.

Some sources think it may be the same as Keltneyburn, but that is unlikely.