Glenglassaugh Distillery, at the east end of the beautiful Sandend Bay, was founded by Col. James Moir in 1875. He quickly established a reputation for making a quality whisky and the company prospered.
He ran the distillery with his two nephews until 1892, when Glenglassaugh was purchased by Highland Distillers. After being completely re-built in 1960, the distillery continued to produce whisky until 1986 when it was mothballed.
The distillery sat silent for over 20 years until it was purchased by a group of investors and started production again in December 2008. In 2013, the BenRiach Distillery Company took over Glenglassaugh distillery with the intention to bring this iconic distillery fully back to life by giving it the investment, commitment and care it deserves.
Glenglassaugh is produced using the highest quality of Scottish barley and traditional distilling methods, our key focus being on quality. While many distilleries have become highly automated, here at Glenglassaugh our spirit is still handcrafted by a small, highly skilled team dedicated to creating the highest quality product. Only the finest casks are selected to slowly mature our precious spirit in our coastal warehouses until it is ready.
GlenDronach, one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland, creating the finest richly sherried single malts for nearly 200 years.
The GlenDronach is of true Highland style: a heavy and robust spirit, perfect for a long maturation period in sherry casks. At The GlenDronach Distillery, we have carried forth the tradition of our founder James Allardice since 1826, maturing our whisky in the finest Spanish Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso sherry casks from Andalucía.
We continue to work towards mastering the art of sherry cask maturation, and our Highland whiskies are recognized for their deep colour and rich flavour profiles, which range from sweet fruity flavours, from the Pedro Ximenez casks we select, to the dry and nutty notes, from superb Oloroso casks. Our well-kept secrets have been guarded for nearly 200 years by a parliament of rooks who love The GlenDronach so much they try to nest in the warehouses. The distillery folk believe as long as the rooks remain at the distillery, it will be good for the whisky.
As was the case in 1826, The GlenDronach Distillery patiently matures its single malt whisky in superior quality sherry casks. Our distilling methods may be old-fashioned, but we prefer to look on them as handcrafted techniques created through nearly 200 years of tradition.
From the germination of the barley to the flow of the purest middle cuts of distilled spirit, every step in The GlenDronach journey is taken with meticulous care and immaculate timing.
Our malt mill, glistening copper mash tun and traditional wooden washbacks form part of a vigorous but carefully attended process. Our elegant copper pot stills distil and re-distil the richest spirit which is then filled into the finest casks and left patiently maturing in our warehouses. Nearly 70% of the flavour in whisky is derived from the cask it has been matured in. Wood’s important, which is why we adopt a ‘no compromise’ approach when choosing our world-renowned sherry casks to enrich our whisky. Over the years of extended maturation, these carefully seasoned casks help create the unique richly sherried style that The GlenDronach is famous for.