Bladnoch’s story
Bladnoch is the most southerly distillery that is currently operating in Scotland. It is located in a remote spot, close to the village of Wigtown, between the towns of Dumfries and Stranraer in Dunfries & Galloway. When looking on a map it is actually further south than parts of northern England.
Bladnoch takes its name from the nearby River Bladnoch, which supplies the water for the whisky production, and the name derives from the ancient Gaelic place name of Blaidzenoch, which is located nearby. The distillery has had a chequered history with several different owners and has been closed, mothballed and re-opened on a number of occasions. There have been various incidents of financial trouble but Bladnoch’s remote location also plays a part. Recent years have been kinder with 12,000 whisky fans visiting each year.
Bladnoch’s history
Bladnoch was founded in 1817 by brothers Thomas and John McClelland. This makes it the oldest Lowland single malt distillery currently in operation, beating both Auchentoshan (1823) and Glenkinchie (1837). Their company remained as owners for almost a century before it was bought out by Dunville & Co. in 1911. This started a long period of financial turmoil and the result saw many changes of ownership over the following century.
In 1937 Dunville & Co. was liquidated and the Glasgow-based Ross & Coulter took over. Over time they slowly decreased production and eventually sold all the equipment to keep debtors at bay. A. B. Grant became the new owners in 1956 and installed new stills, but their tenure lasted just eight years. Next was McGown & Cameron (1964 to 1973), Inver House Distillers (1973 to 1983) and finally Arthur Bell & Sons, which would become part of United Distillers (1983 to 1994). All used the Bladnoch spirit within blended whiskies.
Recent history sees Raymond Armstrong buy the distillery from United Distillers in 1994, but production did not begin until 2000. Unfortunately, in 2014 the distillery was liquidated and the future looked bleak. During this time various bottlings had been released, including the 10 years old Flora & Fauna under license by Diageo.
This led to David Prior taking over in 2015 and he undertook a complete refurbishment of the distillery. The only piece of old equipment that remained fit for purpose was the mill with everything else replaced. Production restarted in the Summer of 2017 with a new visitor centre opened by HRH Prince Charles in September 2019. A new range of single malts has followed. Of the 1.5 million litres produced at Bladnoch each year aorund 100,000 litres is heavily peated.
- How to pronounce Bladnoch? blad-nock
- Country: Scotland
- Region: Lowlands
- Founded: 1817
- Current owners: David Prior
- Production capacity per year: 1.5 million litres
- Mash tun: 5.5 ton stainless steel
- Washbacks: 6
- Stills: 4
- Visitor centre: Yes
Bladnoch Distillery
Bladnoch, Dumfries & Galloway
DG8 9AB
tel – +44(0)1988 402605
www.bladnoch.com
Did you know?
Bladnoch distillery is the southern most Scottish distillery lying further south (speaking in latitude terms) than much of the Scottish borders and in line with Newcastle in England.
Bladnoch
