GlenDronach Distillery

GlenDronach was founded in 1826 by James Allardes, leading a consortium of local farmers. They built this Highland distillery in the valley of Fogue, drawing water from Balnoon Spring. Significant parts of the distillery had to be rebuilt in 1837 after being gutted in a fire. Walter Scott from Teaninich took over the distillery in 1852 and ran it for the next 35 years. In its early days, the lives of the many people working at GlenDronach were centred around the distillery. Workers and their families lived on site, and by the 1860s more than 50 people lived around the distillery.

Owned by another consortium for a period after Walter Scott’s death in 1887, GlenDronach was bought by Captain Charles Grant, son of the founder of Glenfiddich, in 1920.Grant ran GlenDronach for 40 years before selling to William Teacher & Sons in 1960. They increased the number of stills in operation from two to four.

Towards the end of the 20th century GlenDronach changed hands several times in corporate takeovers and mergers, as often happened. Allied Breweries, which later merged to become Allied Domecq, took over from William Teacher & Sons in 1976. They ran the distillery until it was mothballed in 1996. Production didn’t resume at GlenDronach until 2002. Chivas Brothers would take over the distillery in 2005 when their parent company Pernod Ricrd swallowed Allied Domecq.

GlenDronach held on to many of its traditional practices for far longer than most other distilleries. For instance, the floor maltings only closed during the period when it was mothballed in the late 90s. It was one of the last to continue using coal fires to heat its stills, only switching to steam heating coils in 2005.

Pernod Ricard sold the distillery to the BenRiach Distilling Co. in 2008. They relaunched the entire single malt range the following year with a 12, 15, and 18 year old. More vintage releases, wood finishes, and single cask bottlings followed every year after this. In 2016 GlenDronach came under Brown Forman when they purchased BenRiach Distilling Co.

The distillery is equipped with a 3.7 ton traditional rake and plough mash tun, nine larch washbacks and four stills. This gives it the capability to produce up to 1.4 million litres of spirits a year, and it typically runs quite close to that capacity. GlenDronach whiskies are known for their sherry maturation that adds layers of sweet spices and nuts to the flavour.

Today the core range is expansive, consisting of the Hielan 8 year old, the 12 year old, Revival 15 year old, Allardice 18 year old, and Parliament 21 year old. A peated expression with no age statement was added to the range in 2016. The highly popular Revival returned to the shelves in late 2018 after a time when no suitable stock remained. Matured in Pedro Ximenex and Oloroso Sherry casks, this single malt has strong cherry notes on the nose and palate.. The finish is comparatively bitter with herbal bitters and dark chocolate.

Along with the main range GlenDronach also has a number of Limited Releases such as the Peated Portwood and the Grandeur 24 and 27 years old. Those are joined by multiple Batch 16 Cask Bottlings aged from 11 to 28 years old.