Roseisle distillery is located in Speyside at Roseisle, between Forres and Elgin and was founded in 2009 by Diageo at a cost of 40 million GBP.

Its output is intended mainly to support Diageo's Johnnie Walker and Buchanan blended whisky ranges.

Roseisle comprises 14 stills and has an output of around 10-12 million litres of pure alcohol per year.

Distillery photos with kind permission by Diageo

General whisky characteristics: Light, grassy, fruity. If the new make is anything to go by.

Roseisle, New Spirit, ABV Unknown

Nosed & tasted during our Malt Maniacs' 15y Anniversary trip to Scotland, June 2012

Typical Cost of this; not available for sale as yet.

Colour: New Make, clear.

Nose: Light, fresh and very clean with some grassy notes and an overall fruitiness reminiscent of a very good light grappa.

Palate: An amazingly creamy mouth-feel for new make with a light oiliness. Also lots of fruit with an emphasis on cherries.

Finish: Long, very long.

Overall Impression: An excellent new make, one of the best I've tasted with it's light, fruity and grassy character.

Roseisle, a personal impression: Yes, it's big, very big. The Malt Maniacs were offered the privilege of a visit to Roseisle during their 15y Anniversary trip to Scotland in June 2012 and I'm very grateful for that privilege. Let's start by debunking the myth that it's existence is designed to kill off Diageo's other (smaller) distilleries. It doesn't have 27 distillery buttons that can be switched to select a style of whisky from any of those other distilleries (yes, people really said that when it was first commissioned!) It does have 14 stills and the possibility to use either copper or steel condensers which allows a light grassy or heavier spirit to be produced. As of June 2012 only the light grassy version has been produced for maturation.

Roseisle has 14 stills and I have never experienced a still room anything like as hot as this one. When we visited it was in full production and the heat generated was, well, quite sauna-like. Diageo have gone to great lengths to make Roseisle as eco-friendly as possible and also as maintenance-friendly as possible. It does resemble a whisky factory, but the layout was specifically designed to make maintenance as easy as possible. Having visited I must say it isn't exactly the monster it was painted as by some. In fact it's capacity is not so different to Glenfiddich or The Glenlivet and they're hardly monsters either.