Speyburn was founded in 1897 by John and Edward Hopkins through their company John Hopkin & Co. The distillery was designed by Charles Doig, the inventory of the pagoda roof. It was bought in 1916 by Distillers Company Limited (DCL) and incorporated into its subsidiary Scottish Malt Distillers (SMD). It operated almost continuously until it was bought in 1991 by Inver House Distillers, closing only for four years in the early 1930s. Official bottlings of Speyburn are rare save for one 10 Year Old and a Flora & Fauna bottling from the United Distillers period. A handful of Speyburn bottlings can however be found from independent bottlers.

A single cask Speyburn (#003) distilled in 2006 and bottled at cask strength in 2018 for La Maison du Whisky. A limited edition of 702 bottles.