Glengyle Distillery

Glengyle distillery in Campbeltown describes itself as “the newest, old distillery” in the area. Lots of distilleries shut for years or decades at a time, but the hole in Glengyle’s history is less of a gap and more of a chasm.

The original Glengyle distillery was founded in 1872 by William Mitchell in the heart of Campbeltown. It ran for over 50 years, drawing water from Crosshill Loch, before closing down in 1925. The distillery would go on to stay closed for more than 75 years. In those years the distillery changed repeatedly despite being shut down, and bits of it were sold off in pieces.

The first to go were the warehouses, bought and built over by the Craig Brothers in 1929. Later owners of Glengyle itself the Bloch Brothers and Campbell Henderson both had plans to reopen the distillery in the 40s and 50s. But nothing ever came of their efforts. The Blochs didn’t leave empty handed however, as they kept the old stock still remaining, as well as the Glengyle brand name.

Henry Wright, owner of Springbank distillery and relative of the original Mitchells, bought Glengyle Distillery in 2000 and reopened it. When the distillery began producing whisky again four years later it would be released under the brand name Kilkerran as the Bloch Brothers still hold the original trademark. Today Glengyle is one of just three distilleries operating in the Campbeltown region along with Glen Scotia and Springbank.

The distillery is equipped with a 4.5 ton mash tun and four washabacks. Unusually they have decided to go for different wood types, with two made from larch and two from Douglas Fir. A single pair of stills are in operation, with upwards angled lyne arms to help produce a lighter spirit. Glengyle has the capacity to produce 750,000 litres of spirits a year, but consistently operates far below that level. Roughly one fifth of its output is heavily peated spirits.

Having only returned to operation in 2004, it’s only recently that Glengyle whisky has matured enough for them to start releasing new single malt expressions. The main bottling is a 12 year old which was vatted from 70% bourbon and 30% sherry cask aged whisky. The wait was worth it for this complex, lightly peated whisky. The nose is dominated by oak and peat with fruit notes, becoming sweeter and more overtly fruity on the palate.

Since 2017 the distillery has also released an 8 year old Cask Strength and the Kilkerran Heavily Peated. Despite its name, the peat in this expression never overwhelms the fruity character. Before these came out a number of ‘Work in Progress’ bottlings were released by Glengyle with no age statements and a mixture of Sherry and Bourbon maturations.