Produced at Knockdhu distillery in Banffshire, An Cnoc has developed a light core range, with gentle fruits and citrus over floral tones that, with age, give pepper and leather, incorporating sherry casks to add a richer fruit and spice. They have a vintage range, showcasing the best of each year, and a peated range, producing bottlings with different styles of earthy or smoky tones in the whisky.
Founded
1894
Owner
Inver House
Production Status
Operational
Capacity
1,700,000 Litres
Knockdhu was founded by the Distillers Company Ltd of Edinburgh (the only distillery they would ever build). The Knock estate was bought by John Morrison in 1892, who very quickly realised the nearby water source was ideal for whisky production, with the added bonus of being right next to the railway for easy transportation. In a stroke of entreprenurial genius, he took only a year to finalise the resale of the land to DCL for the building of Knockdhu distillery, which started construction in 1893 and began production the next year.
The distillery has had some trouble with the confusion between Knockdhu and the Elgin-based Knockando distillery. In Gaelic, these names translate to 'Black Hill' and 'Little Black Hill', which hardly helps matters. After the distillery closed in the late 80s due to the whisky market crash, Inver House bought Knockdhu to provide whisky for their blended range, and changed the name of the new single malt whisky range to An Cnoc in 1993, to avoid confusion between the two brands. After a little playing with this renaming, the branding settled on AnCnoc in 2003, as it is used now.
These days, independent bottlings are rarely found, and even fewer bottles still hold the old distillery name. However the present day range is as varied as you could wish for, with the vintage range and some of their oldest whiskies highlighting the depth and complexity of AnCnoc, while various limited editions and their peated range (named after the hand tools used to cut the peat for the distillery), lend an experimental touch to the versatile spirit.
If you like An Cnoc whisky, you may also enjoy
Highland Whisky: An Cnoc’s fresh and fruity Highland style appeals to whisky lovers.
Glencadam Whisky: Glencadam’s light, fruity notes mirror An Cnoc’s style.
Ben Nevis Whisky: Ben Nevis delivers a robust Highland experience similar to An Cnoc.