Glendronach   valley of the blackberries

 
 

In June 2016 Brown-Forman Corporation (Jack Daniel‘s) bought Glenglassaugh, BenRiach and GlenDronach for £285 million (Benriach Distillery Company Ltd.).


GlenDronach is famous for its richly flavoured Sherry malts.


Alfred Barnard wrote in 1887: „The route to Glendronach, either by Huntly (the nearest railway station or by Turriff, is as lovely as the one we traversed was desolate. If we had gone by Turriff we should have passed through the picturesque valley of the Deveron, the banks of which river are covered with country seats. Glendronach is planted in the Valley of Forgue, and the hills at the front and back are called the Foreman and Coulsalmond range. The Dronah Burn, which runs over rich beds of peat and mossy uplands, runs through the Works, and not only supplies all the motive power, but is also used for distilling purposes. This stream is of great reputation in the district, and its water, although tinged with a golden brown, is pale enough to delight the heart of a distiller, and is also bright and perfectly clear. The Distillery, built in the form of a square, covers four acres of ground, and was established in the year 1826 by James Allardyce and others.


Alfred Barnard. The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom.


Reborn in 2008 the Georgian distillery has surprised the whisky enthusiast with a new variety of expressions. The relaunch of its iconic Single Malts was extremely successful. About 9.000 casks of maturing whisky lie in the warehouses, the oldest cask in from 1968 (in 2010). There are ten traditional dunnage warehouses and seven racked warehouses. BenRiach Distillery changed owners in summer 2008. Once it was one of the most popular malts worldwide. The new owners installed a preheating system for the wash and spirit stills.


GlenDronach was the last Scottish distillery to fire its stills by coal until 2005.


Character: rich Sherry flavours, vanilla, dried fruit, some sweetness, nutty, complex. Master blender Billy Walker and his team have continued the perfection of Sherry cask maturation. In an old song it says „... but Glendronach wine is good for stomach.“  They keep up the tradition and took over about 9.000 casks of maturing malts.


The floor maltings are no longer in use. The annual output is probably about 1,4 million litres of alcohol (2011).


Distillery Manager: Alan McConnochie (2010)


There is a modern welcoming visitor centre offering excellent tours. The Connoisseur‘s Tour (2014) is highly recommended.



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Owner: Brown-Forman Corporation