UNSUNG HERO
Glenburgie
In our last three issues of Unfiltered we have explored a trio of ‘unsung hero’ distilleries that contribute to Diageo’s family of blends. This time it’s the turn of Glenburgie, one of the ‘heart malts’ of Ballantine’s blended Scotch, as Gavin D Smith reports
PICTURED: a peak inside the dunnage warehouse at Glenburgie distillery
ABOVE: The Glenburgie distillery is one of the key foundation malt whiskies in the Ballantine’s brand of blended whiskies
Along with fellow Speyside Chivas Brothers distilleries Miltonduff and Glentauchers, Glenburgie is central to the house style of Ballantine’s – the leading blend in the portfolio of Diageo’s great rival Pernod Ricard. Such is the importance of Glenburgie to Ballantine’s that the brand name features prominently on the distillery wall.
The original Glenburgie distillery was probably established in 1810 by William Paul as Kilnflat, although official records of whisky production do not appear until 1829. The distillery was constructed close to what is now the A96 between Aberdeen and Inverness, east of the town of Forres.
It was recorded in 1839 that the distillery’s wash still had a capacity of less than 90 gallons (409 litres) and only 16 bushels of barley were mashed each week (with a bushel being eight imperial gallons or 36.37 litres in volume.)
Some sources say that in 1871, William Paul sublet the distillery to Charles Hay, who renamed it Glenburgie, while others claim the site was silent between 1870 and 1878, reopening under the name Glenburgie-Glenlivet, and with Hay at the helm. Either way, under his stewardship, a wash still with almost 700 gallons’ capacity (3,182 litres) was installed, taking production up to 180 bushels per week.
In 1881, Glenburgie became the first whisky-related project of that doyen of distillery architects Charles Chree Doig, who oversaw reconstruction and upgrading of facilities on the site.
Fraser & Grant are noted as licensees in 1880 and two years later Alexander Fraser & Co of Elgin took over Glenburgie, raising capacity to 1,400 bushels per week during 1883. The firm operated the distillery until filing for bankruptcy in 1925, after which, Glenburgie Distillery Ltd was formed.
Two years later, James & George Stodart Ltd, co-owned by James ‘Jimmy’ Barclay, and RA McKinlay, acquired the now silent Glenburgie distillery, having previously taken over the historic Ballantine’s blend in 1919.
ABOVE: An original cask warehouse at Glenburgie distillery
As the 1920s drew to a close and the end of US prohibition was in sight, the Canadian distilling company Hiram Walker-Gooderham & Wort Ltd saw the virtues of investing in the Scottish distilling industry, and established a Scottish subsidiary to acquire 60 per cent of Glenburgie’s owners James & George Stodart Ltd during 1930.
Six years later, Hiram Walker gained control of the rest of Stodart Ltd and production at Glenburgie recommenced, principally to provide malt spirit for Hiram Walker’s Ballantine’s blend, which the Canadian company also purchased from Barclay and McKinlay.
Glenburgie can lay claim to being the first Scottish distillery to appoint a female manager, namely Margaret Nichol, who joined Glenburgie Distillery Ltd in August 1927. Previous female distillers such as Elizabeth Cumming of Cardhu and Margaret Sutherland of Dalmore had been members of the families owning the distilleries in question.
Margaret Nichol’s initial role at Glenburgie was company secretary and the directors’ on-site representative, and she went on to occupy the position of distillery manager from 1936 to 1959.
In 1958 two ‘Lomond’ stills were installed at Glenburgie, producing a second single malt named Glencraig. The employment of Lomond stills across Hiram Walker’s estate of Scottish malt distilleries was intended to produce a range of different spirit styles, giving blenders a greater variety with which to work, but from the same number of production sites.
In essence, the Lomond still was a pot with a short, cylindrical neck, giving low levels of reflux and producing a heavy, rich spirit. Whisky produced in Hiram Walker’s Lomond stills was almost entirely used for blending purposes and the Lomonds were removed from Glenburgie in 1981, being replaced by a pair of conventional pot stills.
1987 saw Hiram Walker purchased by Allied Lyons plc, and in 2004 Allied Domecq, as the company had become, demolished the existing distillery and spent £4.3 million creating a new, state-of-the-art open-plan plant on the site. Remarkably, just five months of production were lost during the reconstruction programme.
The only building dating back to the earliest days of the distillery that remained standing was a modest, stone-built office, complete with the tiny original distillery bond beneath the principal rooms.
In 2005, Pernod Ricard’s Chivas Brothers subsidiary took control of Glenburgie and the Ballantine’s brand as part of its acquisition of a large quantity of Allied’s assets. Another pair of stills was installed in May 2006 to take the complement to six.
Glenburgie operates a 7.5 tonnes full-lauter mashtun and 12 stainless-steel washbacks (each charged with 34,500 litres), while fermentations last 52 hours. The three pairs of large, onion-shaped stills (wash stills charged with 11,500 litres and spirit stills with 13,500 litres) are fitted with straight lyne arms. Annual capacity is 4.25m litres.
Sandy Hyslop, director of blending and inventory at Chivas Brothers, says: “We are looking for sweet homemade jam notes, namely strawberry with a touch of red apple, when testing the new distillate from Glenburgie distillery. This distillate really flourishes during maturation in American oak barrels, with the flavours developing into sweet red toffee apple and pears, but keeping that sweet jammy texture in abundance.
“The Glenburgie distillery is one of the key foundation malt whiskies in the Ballantine’s family, which helps elevate the sweet, fruity red apple notes and honey texture in the blend. It’s a mainstay of the Ballantine’s blends, delivering consistently sweet syrupy flavours, and a fantastic distillery in its own right.”
PICTURED: Another pair of stills was installed at Glenburgie in May 2006 to take the complement to six