Roslin Distillers Ltd was formed in February 2020 initially to register the Trademark "Allt A'Mhullin" as we were informed that a business would be required to hold a trademark rather than private indiviualls.
The business was formed by father Alex (Colin) W. Ross and son Aaron A R Ross, upon his retirement from the distillery where he was Managing Director for 30 years from 1989, in order to release some bottlings of private casks that were held in the family name. Initially, Colin was not keen on the “Roslin” name and suggested that we may change it later as it was formed from the first part of my mother’s name, Rosie, and the second part of Dad’s name, Colin, and was also the name of their house since we moved there in 1983. When Colin took ill in early 2021, passing in May of that year, there was no way that we were going to change the company name as it now holds even greater significance as to where the business came from.
A true family business!
Whisky is in the blood.
Upon his retirement in late 2019, Colin still felt he had more to offer the industry he had worked in for 56 years since leaving school at 15 years old and starting with Chivas at Keith. Thus, we decided to not only bottle our own casks, but to purchase and release casks as single cask, single malt, Scotch Whisky. The first of these a very special 15-year-old released as the first ever Allt A’Mhullin product. This single malt had been matured initially in a refill Bourbon cask before being re racked into a refill Sherry cask before finally being re racked into a Port cask during its 15 years of maturation and Colin had overseen this journey along with the owners of the cask, so it was great to have such an incredible bottling as our first release.
Made with passion!
The adventure begins
Tragically, this first release proved to be his last, but we have fantastic memories and an enduring image of him hand labelling the very first bottle, bottle number 1 of this release. His signature appeared on the signature strip on the back label of this bottling. However, this signature has been captured and has since been proudly displayed on all future release front labels, as the founder of the business. This first release went on to sell out very quickly, within 6-8 weeks, with only the bottle opened at his funeral going on to provide many more tastings as we attended events. It was great to be able to keep this bottle going and share with so many people. One of Dad’s good friends said on the sad day of his funeral, “as long as you keep doing what you are doing, his spirit lives on”. These words are what drives the business forward and keep us striving to achieve every day.
Roslin Logo
Everyone loves a Highland Cow!
Our Roslin Distillers Logo consists of a Highland Cow or “Heilan Coo”, set within a cask end. Indeed, this combination could be representative of Highland Whisky, describing the whisky region where we are based. The Highland cows were first brought to the fields beside the distillery as a tourist attraction by Colin, so it again seemed appropriate to use this within our logo due to his passion for the animal. The first attempt at the logo saw the cow’s head with curly horns which he did not like. When asked what was wrong with it, he said did not want the curly horns as this represented the female cow, it had to have the straight horns to represent the males which were initially brought to the distillery. So, we now have straight horns on our Coo!
Location
The Business is based in Lochaber in the West Highlands of Scotland. A Region that has been home to the family since 1983 apart from a 2-year absence when Colin was Distillery Manager at Laphroaig Distillery on Islay. Aaron left home for university in Newcastle Upon Tyne in the early 90’s, moving back permanently to the area in 2016, initially to work with Colin at the distillery. Aaron says of the area “I have often said that I genuinely believe that I would not have had such an appreciation for the incredible, stunning scenery and history that the region offers had I remained here all my life.”
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