Benrinnes distillery was established in 1826 when Peter McKenzie built a distillery at Whitehouse Farm on the northern slopes of Ben Rinnes mountain at 700 feet elevation. Two years later it was destroyed by floods. Another distillery was built nearby at Lyne of Ruthrie by founder John Innes. Innes went bankrupt in 1834. Thirty years later, his successor William Smith also failed (and was imprisoned), and the distillery lease was transferred to a farmer, David Edward. David's son Alexander Edward inherited the distillery and later became a notable distiller, founding Aultmore, Dallas Dhu, and Craigellachie distilleries, holding partial ownership in Oban and York distilleries, and supporting the establishment of Benromach distillery on his estate near Forres. The distillery suffered a "nearly destructive fire" in 1896 according to the Aberdeen Journal, but a more fatal blow was the collapse of its agents F.W.&O. Brickman in the 1899 "Pattison crash" and the subsequent general decline of the whisky industry. In 1922, Alexander Edward's distillery was acquired by Dewar's, with ownership transferring to D.C.L. in 1925 and managed by S.M.D. from 1930. It was rebuilt in 1955 and 1956, and ten years later capacity was doubled to six stills. The "old and new" halves operated independently, being blended before cask filling. Floor malting was replaced by a Saladin box in 1964, which lasted twenty years. In 1970, steam heating replaced direct fire distillation.

Since 1956, Springbank has employed an unusual form of 'partial triple distillation'. Its six stills are divided into two groups of three, meaning some spirit is distilled three times while others are distilled twice. Each wash still is matched with a fermentation tank. The distillate is separated into heads and tails—the stronger heads go to the strong low-wines receiver, the weaker tails to the weak low-wines receiver. The weak low-wines are sent to an intermediate spirit still, and the resulting distillate is separated again: heads to the strong receiver, tails to the weak receiver. The strong low-wines go to the spirit still, heads return to the strong receiver, and tails/feints are separated once more, with stronger tails to the strong receiver and weaker tails to the weak receiver. One might expect a light-bodied spirit, but quite the opposite—the triple distillation effect is counteracted by the stills' size, shape, and worm tub condensers.