Glen Scotia Distillery is one of the lonely remaining stars of Campbeltown. It was built in 1832 when the Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott died. It was part of the Victorian Whisky Capital of the World. The distillery was built by Stewart, Galbraith & Co and named Scotia. The industrialist Duncan MacCallum bought the malt distillery in 1891. Changing hands quite often the Campeltown distillery was owned by Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouse Ltd. in Mauchline (owner of Loch Lomond Distillery in Alexandria) until March 2014. The group was owned by the Bulloch Family and chaired by Sandy Bulloch.

It is said that the distillery is haunted by its former owner Duncan MacCallum who killed himself by drowning in the Crosshill Loch in 1939 after his bankruptcy in 1928.

The distillery was closed in 1984, reopened in 1989 and mothballed in 1994 b y Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouse Ltd. The owners of Springbank Distillery A. Mitchell & Co restarted production in 1999. From 2000 onwards the distillery is run and monitored by Loch Lomond Distillery.

In 2005 a 12 year old bottling was released. A heavily peated version, distilled July 23rd, 1999, was released in 2006.  New

releases cme on the markent in  2012  with a toatlly new label and bottle design. Glen Scotia Cask bottlings were released at a strength of 45% A.B.V. The annual production was around 130.000 litres of new make spirit in previous years. In 2014 it will rise to  370 000 LPA, (10% lightly peated 115ppm and heavily peated 50ppm).

„We consider Glen Scotia a centre of caring excellence in a world of mass manufacture. We are a small company who are intensely passionate about what we do, producing a unique quality product for sale to a discerning customer. We are, however, situated in one of the most beautiful and scenic places in the world; a world with yachting and golf on our door step; a world where a laid back leisured pace of life is the norm. We extend a warm welcome to all of our customers and look forward to welcoming you either personally or ‘virtually’, to our distillery.“ 

see: www.glenscotia-distillery.co.uk

In March 2014 the distillery was sold to the investing firm Exponent Private Equity Partners Gp Ii. Sandy Bulloch and his family sold Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouse Ltd. - one of the largest independent bottling plants in Scotland - the distilleries Glen Scotia and Loch Lomond are reckoned to be worth between £75 million and £350m.

There is no visitor centre. Visits by appointment only.

Distillery Manager: Iain McAlister (2012)

In 2014-2015 the mash tun, the spirit house and the visitor centre were upgraded and newly painted in blue colour.

Please double-click and thumbnail the photo to open the tour.

Thank you.