Thomas Mackenzie founded Singleton Glen Ord in 1838 on the Black Isle, a peninsula with rich, dark soil that is ideal for cultivating barley. The Singleton Glen Ord distillery is now the Black Isle's only remaining single malt Scotch whiskey distillery.The distillery was forced to shut down twice. Once in 1917, when barley limitations during World War I interrupted output in order to conserve food supplies, and again in 1939, when World War II suspended production. In 1994, one of the distillery's original warehouses was transformed into a visitor centre with an exhibition space.