Glen Garioch Distillery

One of the oldest distilleries still in operation, Glen Garioch, pronounced ‘Glen Geery’, has been producing whisky since 1797, and possible even longer than that. It was built in the Highlands town of Oldmeldrum near Aberdeen, making it the eastern most distillery in Scotland. It was founded by local brothers John and Alexander Manson. The distillery, which originally housed a brewery as well, was built on the site of an old mill on the edge of town.

The distillery changed hands twice after its construction before coming back to the Manson family. It was bought by John Manson Jr, son of the original founder, in 1837. John Manson & Co ran it for almost 50 years until it was sold to J. G. Thompson & Co in 1884. The distillery was bought and sold multiple times in a fairly short space after this. William Sanderson bought Glen Garioch in 1908, before it came under the ownership of Booth’s Distilleries in 1933 in a merger. Booth’s were themselves bought out by Distillers Company Limited four years later.

Glen Garioch struggled with a reliable water supply for much of its existence. This issue was what led to DCL mothballing the distillery in 1968. Two years later it was bought by Stanley P. Morrison from Glasgow. The first thing he did was to carry out substantial refurbishments and locate a new water source in the Peacock Hills.

In 1994 the distillery came under the ownership of Suntory when they bought Morrison Bowmore and is now run by Beam Suntory. A year after this purchase the distillery was mothballed again until 1997. A big change coming from this was that Glen Garioch no longer produced any peated spirits. However, some independent bottlings from before this can still be found. In 2009 Beam Suntory revamped he single malt lineup with its current main bottlings. Glen Garioch distillery is equipped with a 4 ton mash tun, eight stainless steel washbacks, and one set of stills which were replaced in 2016. This gives it a total production capacity of 1.37 million litres, though it often runs significantly below that level.

The core bottlings from Glen Garioch are its Founder’s Reserve, with no age statement, and the 12 year old, both bottled at 48% for a little extra kick. The 12 year old single malt is matured in ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks. The nose is full of rich fruit and sweet malt that becomes a little fresher on the palate with some light spice. Just a hint of oak presents before the long creamy finish. The 1797 Founder’s Reserve has more spice in its aroma, staying smooth and fruity in the mouth. A number of Vintage bottlings are also available along with the 15 year old Renaissance full of nuts, spices, caramel, and citrus, as well as the age stamentless Virgin Oak.