Royal Lochnagar Distillery

Few distilleries have moved around as much as Royal Lochnagar, which called three different locations home early in its life before settling down. This wasn’t flightiness, but a result of intense, frequently violent competition with illicit distillers in the Speyside region.

John Robertson built his first distillery on the banks of the River Dee in Aberdeenshire, in the Eastern Highlands in 1823, the same year whisky production became legal. But a long history of bootlegging, and the criminality that goes with it, doesn’t vanish overnight. The distillery was burnt to the ground in 1926, and Robertson decided to relocate to the foothills of Lochnagar mountain. However, this too fell victim to fire in 1941 and was destroyed.

This could have been the end of Lochnagar, but four years later John Begg built a new distillery on the south bank of the River Dee, where it continues to stand. He quickly acquired patronage that would make it ill-advised to attack this one.

Royal Lochnagar was favoured by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert due to its proximity to the Balmoral Estate, which was bought by the royal couple only shortly before the new distillery’s construction. They were invited to tour the distillery in 1848 and brought along their eldest children. Shortly afterwards it was awarded a Royal Warrant in an expression of their approval.

The Begg family remained connected to the Royal Lochnagar until 1916 when it passed to John Dewar & Sons, setting it on the path to becoming part of Diageo. Henry Farquharson Begg became the owner after the death of his father in 1882. Henry passed away in 1896, and a decade later the distillery was rebuilt by his sons.

John Dewar & Sons bought Royal Lochnagar in 1916, and they themselves were taken over by Distillers Company Limited in 1925. The distillery underwent further refurbishments 1963. It wasn’t until 2004 that Royal Lochnagar first appeared on the market as a single malt with the release of a 30 year old cask strength bottling in the Rare Malts range.

The distillery is equipped with a 5.4 ton traditional rake and plough mash tun, just two wooden washbacks, and a single pair of low capacity stills. Between the long distillation time, and the worm tubes used for cooling, the process at Royal Lochnagar is meant to maximise the amount of copper interaction for the vapours. This helps to create a spirit which is floral, but still has significant weight. Water for the distillery comes from a spring in the foothills of Lochnagar.

Today it is still the smallest of Diageo’s distilleries, with a capacity of just half a million litres a year.

There are currently only two main bottlings from Royal Lochnagar distillery. These are a 12 year old and the vatted Selected Reserve, which comes without an age statement. The 12 year old has aromas of toffee and light oak notes followed by a sweet and spicy palate. It has a complex blend of flavours from caramel, spices, and sherry sitting in the middle.