Everybody loves a good comeback. Whether it’s the Gallagher brothers finally reconciling their differences to bring back Oasis last year, or the 90s fashion reappearing all over the high street today, a comeback always captures the imagination of the public. Thanks to whisky’s longstanding history and tradition, there is always space for an exciting comeback from a distiller or producer thought to be long gone. Enter, now, one of whisky distilling’s most exciting comebacks in recent times: the Morrison family.
For decades, the Morrison family played a prominent role in Scotch whisky through their company Morrison Bowmore Distillers, which at various times owned distilleries including Bowmore, Auchentoshan, and Glen Garioch. When the business was sold to Suntory in 1994, the family stepped away from direct distilling for more than two decades. Later becoming Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers, the family company turned to bottling through Scotch brands including Islay whisky Mac-Talla and blended malt Old Perth — while, in the background, plotting a route back to the stills. Now, the Morrison family has made its long-awaited return to distilling with the inaugural single malt whisky from Aberargie Distillery. “We started distilling in 2017, and from the offset we knew we were going to wait a while. But I suppose we could have launched anything from 2021 onwards,” says Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers managing director Niel Hendriksz on why 2026 is the appropriate time for the release of Aberargie’s first bottling. “I was really driven by the liquid. We wanted to wait until we were absolutely, 100 per cent comfortable and confident with what we put inside the bottle, because that comes first.” Bottled at 48.2% ABV, the first release is non-chill-filtered and is described by the producers as rich and layered with notes of baked apple and golden pastry, balanced by sultanas and prunes with a lingering herbal finish. The liquid itself has matured in a combination of first-fill bourbon and sherry casks.
Based in Perth, Aberargie is adopting a barley-to-bottle philosophy, distilling from barley grown on its own 300-acre farm.
The physical setting of Aberargie reinforces its agricultural identity. The distillery stands among the fields where its barley grows, creating a visible link between land and spirit. This method offers what many would consider a rare level of control from field to final fill. This means allowing Aberargie to also farm its preferred way.
“The farm has existed here for decades prior to the distillery. Our ownership of the farm here predates the distillery by over a decade. And from the very outset, there’s been a push or a drive towards regenerative farming,” says Graeme Mackeddie, operations director for Morrisons Scotch Whisky Distillers, who is overseeing all sides of distilling for Aberargie.
Mackeddie’s experience and knowledge in farming has proven to be invaluable to how Aberargie is achieving its ambition. “We are farmers as well as whisky makers. So from the very outset, for the very concept of Aberargie, there was an ambition to do something a little different.”
Regenerative farming is an important subject in the world of agriculture, and there is beginning to be a shift in the mindsets of some whisky makers when it comes to practising these methods. Regenerative agriculture is a nature-based approach to farming that focuses on the restoration of soil health and biodiversity.
For Aberargie, practices such as the use of cover crops and grazing animals are crucial elements, which Mackeddie says are making a resurgence of their own in the farming industry. For Aberargie, there is an ambition to be as responsible with man-made chemicals and fertilisers as possible, while the team acknowledges that being fully organic is not a realistic approach at the moment.
The inaugural Aberargie whisky has been made using a mash bill of 52 per cent Golden Promise and 48 per cent laureate barley. Growing this barley on the estate allows the distillery to maintain full traceability from seed to spirit. The crop is cultivated across the Morrison family’s farmland.
Mackeddie acknowledges that the use of Golden Promise is considered a risk by some for factors relating to cultivation and vulnerability, but the pros far outweighed the cons. “It obviously has had a rich history in distilling. It’s been favoured by some of the big guys and some of the really prestigious names in the industry for its flavour profile, for its richness, its oiliness, etc. And from day one, there was an ambition to work with heritage varieties and Golden Promise was always up there in the process of trying to work out what we want to do.” The distillery is doing everything itself, from the farming to warehousing and bottling. Away from the distillery’s farming practices, Aberargie’s presentation, particularly through the bottle label, has also been a big talking point. Falmouth-based design agency Kingdom & Sparrow has collaborated with the distillery on all aspects of the debut whisky, including label design and branding.
“We started working with Kingdom & Sparrow... I met Johnny and the team probably about two years ago. And we just really felt a good connection with them,” says Hendriksz. “When you talk about long-term collaboration, they’ll always be part of Aberargie because they essentially designed the brand identity, not just the first release.” The inaugural expression was released in early March 2026, but this marks just the beginning for Aberargie’s portfolio. As for the liquid itself, whisky fans can expect some consistency when it comes to the flavour profile in the years to come. “I think we experiment a lot internally, but the overall ambition is to have a recognisable distillery character,” Hendriksz explains. “For us… going back to liquid, you know, in 10, 15 years time, if someone mentions Aberargie, I’d love for them to immediately think about quality liquid.” While everybody loves a comeback, Aberargie’s arrival on the whisky scene also comes with an exciting approach that’s not just going back to the traditional well, but pushing boundaries on modern production and agriculture to stamp its own identity on the industry.
