All about Glen Garioch

General characteristics of Glen Garioch Whiskies show fruitiness, elegant touches of vanilla and oak with spices. Although special year bottlings showcase the use of peat and Sherry casks.

All about Glen Garioch distillery

Glen Garioch is located in Oldmeldrum, in the Valley of Garioch. It was known as being a region with the finest barley in Scotland.

Thomas Simpson found the distillery in 1797, which makes it one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland. In 1837, the distillery was bought by John Manson & Co., owner of Strathmeldrum Distillery. In the first decade of the 1900s, William Sanderson bought the distillery.

Glen Garioch was important to him, since it was a special malt for the VAT 69 blend. Soon after, Sanderson & Sons merged with Booth's Distillers Ltd., and later DCL acquired the distillery. No more than 30 years later, Glen Garioch was decommissioned and closed again.

Luckily Stanley P. Morrison Ltd. bought the distillery and resumed the operations until 1995, and one year after that, Suntory bought the company from Morrison's. In 1995, the distillery was mothballed but re-opened in 1997.

Until 1978, the distillery had 2 stills. A third still was added to the equipment list in this year. 1982 was an important year, because gas heating was introduced. Glen Garioch uses a stainless steel mash tun, eight stainless steel washbacks, one wash still and two spirit stills.

Distillery info

  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Region: Highlands
  • Address: Glen Garioch Distillery Distillery Road Oldmeldrum Aberdeenshire AB51 0ES United Kingdom
  • Phone: +44 1651 873450
  • Website: www.glengarioch.com/