![]() For my next distillery focus, I’m going to Speyside, my home for many years, and the Ballindalloch Distillery. These guys were practically my neighbours when I worked at Glenfarclas so I was really keen to find out a bit more about what they were up to. I moved away from Speyside just after they opened, so although I often drove past the distillery while it was being built, I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit. (Something I hope to remedy very soon!) While the Ballindalloch Distillery is a new venture, distilling on the Ballindalloch Estate certainly isn’t; In fact, the Ballindalloch Estate used to feature fairly prominently in my descriptions of the early history of Glenfarclas. You see, the Glenfarclas Distillery was founded by tenant farmer Robert Hay in 1836 on Rechlerich Farm (part of the Ballindalloch Estate). When Robert Hay died in 1865, local farmer John Grant took over the tenancy and purchased the distillery at the same time (for the bargain price of £511.19d). Since his interests lay in farming, rather than distilling, he initially put in a manager, John Smith, to run the distillery for him, while he concentrated on farming. A few years later, in 1869, John Smith left Glenfarclas to establish the Cragganmore Distillery, in conjunction with the 4th Baronet of Ballindalloch, Sir George Macpherson-Grant. At that point, John Grant’s son, George, took over the running of the Glenfarclas distillery and farm and it has remained in the family ever since. They only ceased being tenants of the Ballindalloch Estate in 1930 though when George Grant (John’s grandson) bought the freehold. As far as I am aware, Cragganmore is still on Estate grounds, and there may well be other distilleries which were, or are, on the Estate but I’m not entirely sure of the full geographical reach. It’s certainly a fairly big area, covering some 7000 hectares today (around 27 square miles) and presumably much more than that in the past. Anyway, enough about the history, let’s find out what’s going on in the present! Brian Robinson, the Distillery Host, very kindly answered my questions;
Q. Why did you decide to start producing whisky? And why now? The Ballindalloch Estate has been in the Macpherson-Grant family for nearly 500 years. In more recent times, it has evolved and changed to remain viable and diversification remains key. The decision to build a distillery is the latest endeavor by the family to ensure a strong future. We had all the pieces of the puzzle already in place in terms of growing barley, water supply and a use for draff and effluent, so it seemed like a natural progression to bring those elements together. As far as timing is concerned, it was simply the family looking ahead and deciding that the time was right for them. Q. Can you talk us through the process of setting up your distillery? From the time the family decided to go ahead with building the distillery to the first spirit run on the 22nd September 2014, was around 4 years of planning, scheduling, building and renovation. We deliberately used a small group of local craftsmen and trades throughout the fit out, so the renovation took longer than it might have done. That said, the family got exactly what they wanted in terms of the standard of the work carried out and the distillery looks great as a result. We were fortunate that Forsyths could fit us into their schedule as they are superb at what they do. We certainly benefited from their knowledge together with Charlie Smith who was brought in, initially as a consultant, and latterly became our Master Distiller before stepping back the end of 2015. Colin Poppy now heads up production as Distillery Manager with Phillip Murray and Mike Duncan working with him. I joined in 2014, just as the fit out started, and look after the non production side of things.
Q. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far in setting up a new distillery? What do you envisage as the biggest challenges going forward? Firstly, remove money from the equation – distilleries cost a lot of money to set up and run, so we will take that as obvious! Getting the right people in place is key, along with setting the direction you want your distillery go. In the future, the biggest challenge will be going head to head with some outstanding, established whiskies. As well as the usual, global suspects there are a number of small distilleries who I have great respect for, so we will be entering a very busy marketplace. That said, we have the quality we need, a plan in place and time to position ourselves, so I am confident we will be ready to compete. Q. Can you tell me a bit about your production equipment and processes (barley variety/yeast strain/distillation/cask management etc)? ie What makes your distillery unique?
Q. Who do you see as your target market? To be honest, it is too early to commit to and answer publicly. We have some thoughts and ideas that we will pursue when the time is right. Given that we are a number of years away from sales, so much can happen between now and then that could impact on plans made too early. I certainly would not like to suggest we will head to a particular market only for us to change our minds. I can promise though, once we are in a position to confirm these details, I will ensure everyone knows! Q. When do you plan to release your first whisky? Will you be producing any other products in the meantime? We anticipate a wait of around 8 to 10 years from when we started, so a little while to way to go yet. We do not make Gin or Vodka nor will we release bottled new make spirit. I am very pleased to say that we are lucky enough that we can wait until we feel the whisky is ready.
Q. If you were to compare your distillery to any other existing or closed one, which would you most aspire to be like and why?
I’m not sure that I would make any direct comparisons to specific distilleries. We are fairly typical of a Speyside style but with a more complex spirit character. My aspirations would be allied to any distillery that has produced a wonderful whisky and built a following of people who appreciate and understand the hard work that goes into making something special! Q. Are you open to visitors? Can we buy your product, either in bottles or cask? If not now, then when? We do indeed welcome visitors, but we do not have a Visitor Centre as such. Tours are offered by appointment and I will then tailor the visit to the guests who book. I can offer tours that start at £35 per person and last around 2½ hours through to a day spent working with Colin, Phillip and Mike. Called The Art of Whisky Making, it allows up to 2 guests to get hands on for the day getting involved with everything that we do here. As far as buying any product is concerned, as I mentioned earlier, there is a bit of a wait there I am afraid. I do have a very small Private Cask program with no more than 25 casks available each year. If anyone is interested, it is best to email me directly and I will discuss the program with them. You can contact me at brian@ballindallochdistillery.com and follow us on Facebook for all the latest updates.
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For my next ‘newbie’ focus, we are heading to Scotland’s industrial heartland - Glasgow and the Glasgow Distillery Company Limited (not to be confused with the Glasgow Distillery project by Morrisons Glasgow Distillers Ltd, which as far as I am aware is still in the early planning stages). While Glasgow sometimes gets a bit of an unfair reputation from those that don’t know it, personally I love the place - I lived there for many years as a student so have a fairly in depth knowledge of the consumption of alcohol there, if not the making of it! As Scotland’s largest city, and industrial and trading hub, Glasgow has a long history of blending and bottling whisky and many of the big names (Chivas, Diageo, Whyte & Mackay, Dewars, Edrington) still have some kind of presence there. According to Brian Townsend, in his book Scotch Missed, historically Glasgow “was a city of many distilleries with colourful names” but the last malt distilleries closed down in the early 1900s (apart from the short-lived Kinclaith distillery, within Strathclyde Grain Distillery, which ran from 1958 to around 1975). ![]() In terms of modern day distilleries though, there are now only two; Strathclyde Grain Distillery (established in 1927, now owned by Chivas Brothers) and the new Glasgow Distillery, opened in 2014 and owned by Liam Hughes, Ian McDougall & Mike Hayward. The distillery is in Hillington in the South-West of the City, not perhaps the most attractive area (however, in the interests of full disclosure, I should point out that I worked in call centre there during my student days so this may, understandably, have put me off!) but looks aren’t everything! The CEO of Glasgow Distillery Company Ltd, Liam Hughes, very kindly took the time to answer my questions (yep, same ones as last time - that was the plan remember?) before heading off on holiday. Here’s what he had to say; Q. Where is your distillery located, and why in that specific location? Glasgow Distillery is the only Single Malt Distillery in a city in Scotland and was chosen because we wanted to build a distillery on the basis of its city location and logistical practicality after visiting the Brooklyn Distillery who had done something similar. Q. Why did you decide to start producing whisky? And why now? We were always going to make Whisky – Glasgow hasn’t had a Single Malt Distillery since 1902 so it seemed a gap that needed filling.
Q. Do you have a specific style of whisky in mind and how are you going to achieve that? Our style is more Speyside than anything else and with our consultant being an ex Macallan Master Distiller that probably isn’t a great surprise Q. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far in setting up a new distillery? What do you envisage as the biggest challenges going forward? The challenges have been a never ending list and this isn’t for the faint hearted !! There are as many opportunities going forward as there are challenges but as with all new Whisky Distilleries you have a big gap between making New Make and being able to put a product in a bottle.
Q. Who do you see as your target market? Our target market is not narrow – we believe that by making great products people will grow to be fans of what we are doing and that we can and would love to be able to attract a wide range of people Q. When do you plan to release your first whisky? Will you be producing any other products in the meantime? Our first Whisky will be released in 2018. In the meantime we have already released Makar Glasgow Gin and Prometheus 26 & 27 an Independent Bottling with more in the pipeline Q. What’s your long term goal? Where do you see yourself and your distillery in 20 years time? That is a question I really haven’t even thought about I can just about see as far as 2018 !!! Q. If you were to compare your distillery to any other existing or closed one, which would you most aspire to be like and why?
I think one of the most enjoyable things for me is we have no baggage as the original Glasgow Distillery [Dundashill Distillery, described by Barnard as one of the very first distilleries established in Glasgow - ed.] shut in 1902 and there is as far as I know no surviving Whisky from it so we are relying on historical records so we are just doing a whole range of things with great New Make and great casks and are already so excited about what is in the casks and the what will be whisky in a few short years Q. Are you open to visitors? Can we buy your product, either in bottles or cask? If not now, then when? We aren’t currently open to the public though we hope to be in 2017, we sell a limited amount of casks via our 1770 Club and our Makar & Prometheus are widely available via the Internet My quest to become better informed about all the new Scottish distilleries has begun! My plan is simple; contact all the distilleries and ask them all the same questions so I (and therefore you) can firstly, learn more about their experiences, philosophies and future plans, but also (hopefully!) explore the differences between them. First up is Ardnamurchan Distillery, owned by the independent bottler Adelphi Distillery Ltd. Now independent bottlers acquiring distilleries is nothing new; think Signatory and Edradour, G&M and Benromach and Ian MacLeod and Glengoyne/Tamdu to name a few. As far as I know though, Adelphi are the first independent bottler to build their own distillery from scratch (Although Wemyss followed suit with the Kingsbarns Distillery a few months later).
![]() Anyway, Alex Bruce very kindly agreed to answer my questions, so lets see what he has to say for himself; Q. Where is your distillery located, and why in that specific location? We are in the tiny hamlet of Glenbeg, half way along the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula. The area was selected due to its abundance of very pure water, local natural resources (woodchip for the boiler), and local requirement for distilling by-products (draff, pot ale). Some of the surrounding area is also under the same ownership as the distillery. Q. Why did you decide to start producing whisky? And why now? First, and foremost, because we wanted to return Adelphi to its distilling roots, but also because demand for Adelphi’s independent bottlings has outstripped its supply for some years now. This, coupled with a growing international distribution network, provided demand, route to market and a strong intention to make a quality whisky. There has also been a bonus to the independent bottling arm through the reciprocating of Ardnamurchan new make for mature single casks of other makes. Q. Can you talk us through the process of setting up your distillery? About 4 years from conception to final planning: in addition to finding the right site, this also included consulting on all aspects of renewable heat and power provision for distilling, looking at other new and existing projects worldwide, detailed market research, and finding the right architect and construction team. In addition, there was an early requirement to reserve a manufacturing slot for the equipment. Q. Do you have a specific style of whisky in mind and how are you going to achieve that? We are not trying to re-write any regional styles, just aiming to do the best we absolutely can: we are producing an unpeated and a medium peated spirit (6 months of each at the moment), filling into both ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks (the majority are 1st fill). The spirit is very fruity, quite creamy and viscous, with a peppery kick and decent levels of peat in the background in the peated version. We hope to end up somewhere between Highland Park and Talisker in style (possibly with a hint of Springbank!) Q. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far in setting up a new distillery? What do you envisage as the biggest challenges going forward? Plenty of teething issues to keep us busy, but none insurmountable: 1. Staffing, in particular for the VC in such a remote area 2. Trying to find the infrastructure to allow us to grow our own barley (100%) and have it dried and toll malted, both peated and unpeated 3. Working with a biomass boiler 4. Cash flow – keeping production running for several years without dipping into too much working capital or selling too many crown jewels. Going forward: 1. Developing the existing markets, bringing on target markets 2. Developing a domestic presence 3. Staffing 4. Visitor numbers 5. Commissioning in house malting 6. Fluctuating material prices for malt and wood Q. Can you tell me a bit about your production equipment and processes (barley variety/yeast strain/distillation/cask management etc)? ie What makes your distillery unique? We use 100% Concerto varietal barley, most of it grown on our farm in Fife and toll malted by Bairds in Inverness. We have a Ruddock mill, feeding a 2 ton mash (the largest we could fit up the road); 4 oak washbacks (ex Cognac) and 3 SS washbacks; a 10,000 litre wash still and a 6000 litre spirit still. We use a single distillers’ yeast for the peated, and 2 distillers’ yeast (50/50) for the unpeated, fermentation times are 72 hours with a long weekend (when we are on a 5 day week) and 72 hours for each (when we are running 7 days). All pot ale and draff is used locally, all spirit matured on site. Q. Who do you see as your target market? We will continue to expand our existing markets with particular emphasis on North America, Europe and the Far East. Q. When do you plan to release your first whisky? Will you be producing any other products in the meantime? The first “mainstream” single malt will be released when we have enough mature stock that we feel is ready to vat and bottle. We hope to release earlier maturing spirits and single malt in small batches to show the emerging style and quality. No other products are planned. Q. What’s your long term goal? Where do you see yourself and your distillery in 20 years time? We would like to establish the Ardnamurchan brand worldwide with recognition for a quality single malt that is attainable in most specialist outlets. A 40,000 to 60,000 case brand should be achievable within 20 years, and we would hope that the core of our existing team and ownership will still be involved to witness this achievement. Q. If you were to compare your distillery to any other existing or closed one, which would you most aspire to be like and why? From a flavour profile, as above: HP, Talisker, Springbank and backbone of Clynelish/Brora. From a sales and marketing angle, I have huge respect for Billy Walkers brands, Arran, and Ian Macleods, so a mix of all of the above would be perfect. Q. Are you open to visitors? Can we buy your product, either in bottles or cask? If not now, then when? We are open 6 days per week from Easter to October, and 5 days (or on demand) during the winter months. New spirit is available direct from the distillery. Small batch releases of maturing spirit should begin later this year (2016) Now I definitely want to go and visit! I can’t wait to try the final product either - especially since the style they are aiming for is a hybrid of 2 (or 3) of my favourite distilleries!
I seem to have been writing about J & A Mitchell quite a lot recently, but since last weekend marked the 12th Anniversary of the opening (re-opening?) of Mitchell’s Glengyle distillery, I figured that warranted another post. At least it is about Kilkerran this time rather than Springbank!
At the time, it was quite a novelty - it was one of the forerunners in the wave (now practically a tsunami) of new Scottish Distilleries, and the first distillery to open in Campbeltown in well over 100 years. The original Glengyle distillery had been founded in 1872 by William Mitchell, who ran it until 1919, when it was sold. It closed its doors a few years later in 1925. Although all the distilling equipment was removed, and the stock sold off, the distillery buildings themselves remained pretty much intact over the intervening years, being used first as a rifle range, then as an agricultural depot. The story goes that Mr Hedley G Wright, current chairman of J & A Mitchell Co Ltd, during one of his visits to Springbank, had noticed that the buildings were for sale and commented, “Hmm, my great-great uncle used to own Glengyle. I think I should buy it.” I may be paraphrasing slightly but you get the idea! Buy it he did (in November 2000), and the ambitious plan to create a brand new distillery within the walls of the old one began. The first time I saw the soon to be new Glengyle distillery, in 2002, it was an empty shell. A very large empty shell! Over the next couple of years though, I, along with all the other staff at Springbank, gradually watched the new distillery come to life under the direction of Mr Wright and Frank McHardy, who was Springbank Distillery Manager at the time. The stills and mill were sourced second hand - the stills from Ben Wyvis distillery and the mill from Craigellachie - although the shape of the stills was altered somewhat to give the distillery character they wanted. The rest of the equipment was new though - the very large stainless steel mash tun was brought down by road (I’d have hated to be stuck behind that lorry on the way down to the town!) and fitted by Forsyths of Speyside. I vividly remember watching the washbacks be built on site - now that was impressive! If you’ve ever been to a cooperage and watched them building casks, it was like that but on a much, much larger scale. The noise of 5 or 6 guys hammering the huge hoops into place around the newly installed washbacks was something else! I also remember the first time the new washbacks were filled - and the water just poured out the bottom! They do that apparently, until the giant staves absorb enough water to expand into place and make them watertight. That’ll be why they were filled with water first then, won’t it? (That’s also why wooden washbacks are kept full of water when not in use, so that they don’t dry out and start leaking).
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AuthorWhisky Impressions is run by Kate Watt. Previously at Springbank and then Glenfarclas, I now design some whisky related stuff and write about it, and anything else that takes my fancy, on this blog. Archives
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