Glenburgie Distillery

Rarely is the origin of a place a matter of multiple choice, but there are several points in time you could point to as the beginning of Glenburgie distillery. Whisky production first began at this location near Forres, Morayshire in the Speyside region in 1810 under the name Kinflat. This was an illicit distillery and it wasn’t officially, legally founded until 1829 by William Paul.

Kinflat closed in 1870, and the distillery stayed shut for another seven years. 1878 was the first time the distillery operated as Glenburgie when it reopened under the name Glenburgie-Glenlivet with Charles Hay holding the licence. The distillery changed hands four times in the next sixty years, with Hiram Walker taking over completely in 1936. The distillery had at this point been inactive for almost a decade. What followed was a relatively calm period of production for the next 50 years until Allied Lyons, later Allied Domecq, bought Hiram Walker in 1987.

Allied Domeq built a completely new distillery in 2004, adding two more stills, at a price tag of £4.3 million. This was one of their last acts before Chivas Brothers became the owners through a corporate merger in 2005. The following year two more stills were added to the distillery, bringing the current total to six.

While the six stills operating now are traditional copper pot stills with an onion shape this was not always the case. From 1958 to 1981 the distillery had two Lomond stills. These had three adjustable plates inside that allows different characters of spirit to be made in the same still. Now, along with the six pot stills, the distillery has 12 stainless steel washbacks and a 7.5 ton wash tun. With a relatively short fermentation time of 52 hours Glenburgie can produce 4.25 million litres of spirits a year.

The extremely high demand for Glenburgie malt in blends has always been behind the lack of single malts available, despite its long history. But fortunately there has been a shift in that respect in recent years. Two official bottlings are now available under the brand Ballantine’s The Glenburgie. A 15 year old was released in 2017 and an 18 year old was added to the range in 2019. A number of independent bottlings of an older age are also available from Signatory and Gordon & MacPhail.

The official 15 year old was matured solely in American Oak ex-bourbon casks. It starts with fruity aromas of apple and pears, with honey and marzipan following. The palate continues that rich sweetness with notes of caramel, vanilla, and white chocolate and more fruit in the finish.