Bladnoch Distillery lies on the Machars peninsula in the town of Bladnoch right by the Bladnoch River. The distillery was founded in 1817 by the McClelland brothers and remained in the family’s care for more than a hundred years until it was closed in 1938 due to a general decrease in demand for whisky products. The three stills (Bladnoch was triple-distilled at the time) were sold to a Swedish company which produced the Skeppets Whisky (‘Skeppets’ meaning ‘ship’). The project was shut down after only ten years and the three stills were sold. Two of them ended up with the well-known Swedish Vodka company Absolut and are reportedly still in use. The third still may be seen at the Wine and Spirit Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.
In 1956 the Bladnoch Distillery was bought by the Bladnoch Distillery Ltd who installed four new stills. The distillery was almost immediately sold to the blending company McGown & Cameron who ran the distillery until 1973 when they sold it to Inver House Distillers. After two more changes in ownership the distillery was closed down in 1993 and lay dormant until 2000 when it was bought by Coordinated Developments Ltd, a property development company owned by Raymond Armstrong. Distilling recommenced on a small scale in year 2000 and the first batches of whisky will be available on the market around 2012. Bladnoch has followed the trend of offering maturing casks for sale however, which means that interested customers do not have to wait to secure their future supply of Bladnoch. For example, a bourbon cask is priced at £750. More detailed information is available at the Official Bladnoch website.
Production at Bladnoch
Water is drawn from the Bladnoch River which flows right by the distillery. Bladnoch buy their malt lightly peated from Simpsons of Berwick. The mash tun is made from stainless steel and the six washbacks are made from fir. The four new stills which were installed in 1956 are onion shaped and are fitted with long necks. The distillery does not run at its full capacity –only one pair of stills is used. The whisky is filled primarily into bourbon casks which are stored in the thirteen on site warehouses.
Contact Bladnoch
Bladnoch Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Bladnoch Wiltonshire
DG8 9AB
Scotland
Phone: +44 (0)1988 402235
Visitors: Bladnoch is open to visitors from Easter until the end of October on Monday-Friday 09.00-17.00. Between July and August the visitor centre is also open on Sundays 12.00-17.00. Guided tours are available throughout the day. Admission is £1.
The Bladnoch gift shop is one of the largest in Scotland; besides a wide selection of whisky they offer glassware, various Scottish gifts, jewellery and even kilts.
Owner: Raymond Armstrong
