Oban Distillery

Historic Houses & Building, Workplaces

Nestling beneath the steep cliff that overlooks Oban, one of Scotland's oldest sources of single malt scotch whisky is but a stone's throw from the sea.

The distillery at Oban was founded in 1794 by the local Stevenson brothers who had been involved to some degree in the creation of the fishing port of Tobermory on Mull. The date makes Oban one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland, and it pre-dates the town which came to take shape around it. The first licence dates from 1797 but expired the following year despite a House of Commons report describing the distillery as one of the best equipped in the Highlands. For the next 20 years, the industrious Stevensons turned their attention to other matters. They were in the throes of developing Oban from the small fishing village it had been, and owned ship-building, slate-quarrying and house-building businesses.