Tullibardine distillery is situated in the village of Blackford in Perthshire, at the foot of the Ochil Hills where the Highlands of Scotland begin, and lies on the site of Scotland’s oldest brewery dating back to the twelfth century. These hills are renowned for the crystal purity of their spring water.
In 1947, a Welshman by the name of William Delme Evans purchased the brewery with a view to converting it to a distillery with the original capital being supplied by friends and relatives. Delme Evans was an engineer to trade and designed the distillery to maximise efficiency initially using nature, and latterly science, where necessary. The distillery was built under very difficult circumstances as material was under licence and building and construction work at that time was subject to severe building controls. However, in 1949, Tullibardine distillery produced spirit for the first time and ran under Delme Evans ownership until 1953 where failing health forced him to sell it to the company of Brodie Hepburn. Throughout his time at Tullibardine he was assisted in the project by Mr C I Barrett, a retired Excise Officer who had considerable experience of Highland Malt Distilleries. Mr Barrett was subsequently manager of Tullibardine Distillery until 1958. The distillery lay dormant for 9 years until the June of 2003 when it was bought along with the existing stock of Tullibardine whisky. In the December of 2003, Tullibardine distillery fired up the boiler and spirit flowed from the stills again. Throughout the re-commissioning process, care was taken to maintain as many of the traditional methods of production as possible.