A missionary named Maernanaog, or Mo-ernin-og, had brought Christianity to the Picts of Moray during the 7th Century. A church was built just outside of Elgin, following his death in 625AD and named Lann Marnoch, the Church of St Marnoch. Over the course of time, the name ‘Lann Marnoch’ gradually became Anglicised and eventually the area was known as Longmorn. Construction began on a distillery on the site in 1893 under John Duff and Company, founders of Glenlossie in 1876.

In 1894, the build was completed and the total costs amounted to £20,000. Production began in December. John Duff bought out the other members of the group and officially founded the Longmorn Distillery in 1897. A year later he built Longmorn Number 2 next door, changing its name latterly to BenRiach. John Duff went bankrupt in 1909; the Pattison Crisis had left him reeling and he had already failed in his attempts to build distilleries in America and South Africa. The shares were acquired from the bank by James R Grant.

The Lochside distillery lacks the fame of its more illustrious neighbour, BenRiach, though it is of good size; its eight stills have a capacity of 3.5 million litres annually and have been running at full capacity since Pernod Ricard’s acquisition of previous owners Seagram in 2001. The malt whisky from Lochside remains in good standing as a blending component, it being featured in Chivas Regal.