Clynelish Distillery is a distillery near Brora

Brora

Brora is a village in the east of Sutherland, in the Highland area of Scotland. The village is situated where the A9 road and the Far North Line bridge the River Brora...

, Sutherland

Sutherland

Sutherland is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic administrative county of Scotland. It is now within the Highland local government area. In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: Dùthaich 'IcAoidh , Asainte , and Cataibh...

 in the Highlands of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It was built in 1968, adjacent to the original Clynelish distillery which was closed. Confusingly the original distillery was reopened in May 1969 as and until July 1973, produced a heavily-peated whisky to supply for blending; this was done to cover a shortage of Islay

Islay

-Prehistory:The earliest settlers on Islay were nomadic hunter-gatherers who arrived during the Mesolithic period after the retreat of the Pleistocene ice caps. In 1993 a flint arrowhead was found in a field near Bridgend dating from 10,800 BC, the earliest evidence of a human presence found so far...

 whisky caused by a drought on the island. The old distillery was renamed Brora Distillery

Brora (whisky distillery)

The Brora distillery was a producer of single malt Scotch whisky that operated between 1819 and 1983.-History:The Brora distillery was built in 1819 by the Marquess of Stafford, although it was known as "Clynelish" until the opening of the Clynelish Distillery in 1968, whereupon the name of the...

 and production of a peated spirit continued up until 1983.

Clynelish has had a strong connection with Johnnie Walker

Johnnie Walker

Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch Whisky owned by Diageo and originated in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland.It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Scotch whisky in the world, sold in almost every country with yearly sales of over 130 million bottles.-History:Originally known as Walker's...

blended whisky for many years. A large proportion of the spirit used in Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve comes from this distillery.