anCnoc is the whisky; Knockdhu is the distillery — and the two names exist because of a legal headache. John Morrison founded Knockdhu in 1893 on the southern slope of Knock Hill in Banffshire after several springs were discovered there, building it to supply Haig's blends; it was the first malt distillery ever constructed for the Distillers Company. It survived the Depression, a wartime shutdown from 1940 to 1945 when it housed Indian soldiers, and a 1983 closure before Inver House Distillers bought it in 1988 as their very first distillery, restarting production the following February. The single malt launched under the Knockdhu name, but customers kept confusing it with nearby Knockando, so in the early 1990s it was renamed anCnoc — Gaelic for "the hill." The distillery still runs a single pair of stills of the same flat-bottomed, long-necked design as the originals, and both share one wormtub condenser, which keeps the spirit light, fresh, and fruity. The house style is honeyed citrus and green apple, matured in ex-bourbon and sherry casks, non-chill filtered with no added color. The 12 Year Old is the workhorse, an award magnet with Double Gold at San Francisco and 96 points at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge, alongside the 16, 18, and 24 Year. For years Knockdhu quietly made peated spirit too, released as Peatheart and the Rutter and Flaughter editions, named for peat-cutting tools. Speyside's best-kept secret.

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