Glen Ord – The Singleton Distillery

Glen Ord’s story

Glen Ord is based in the Highlands to the north of Inverness in a small town called Muir of Ord. The surrounding area is referred to as the Black Isle. This is one of the most fertile areas of farm land in Scotland and as a result is reknowned for growing some of the best barley, which is often used by Glen Ord. Unusually, the distillery also malts all its own barley – this takes place at the adjacent Glen Ord Maltings, which began operation in 1968, and this facility supplies many of owner Diageo’s other distilleries with malted barley also.

Glen Ord takes its water from the fresh supply of All’t Fionnaidh (this translates as ‘white burn/stream’ from Gaelic). The stream originates from two mountain lochs, the rainwater fed Loch Nan Eun (‘loch of the birds’) and Lloch Nam Bonnach’ (‘loch of smoke’) which is replenishied via underground springs.

The distillery is key to owners Diageo and is one of the larger distilleries in Scotland, producing over 11 million litres of whisky per year. Much of the whisky produced at Glen Ord is used in the blending of the Johnnie Walker range and other Diageo-owned blended brands. However, it also plays a massive role in their single malt strategy as one of three distilleries to contribute to the hugely popular range of The Singleton. The Dufftown and Glendullan distilleries in Speyside are the other two. Glen Ord is the official home of The Singleton and boasts an impressive recently-refurbished visitor centre to back this up.

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Glen Ord’s history

The Glen Ord distillery was established in 1838 by Thomas Mackenzie and he ran it for almost 20 years. The distillery was taken over by Alexander MacLennan and Thomas McGregor in 1855. When MacLennan died in 1870 the ownership passed to his widow, who remarried a local banker named Alexander Mackenzie shortly afterwards. Mackenzie operated the distillery, which was simply known as Oran during its early life, until he died in 1896. With no one to take over, it was sold to James Watson & Co. for £15,800 (£1.7 million in today’s money). They change the name to Glen Oran.

In 1923 the distillery is sold to John Dewar & Sons – by this time the whisky from there is highly sought after by blenders and Dewar’s saw the purchase as the perfect way to easily secure ongoing stocks. They changed the name to Glen Ord. The current owners are Diageo and they relaunched The Singleton single malt range in 2006, including Glen Ord from the off. The success of the rebrand has led to a massive expansion at the distillery in the following two decades. It is now one of the largest distilleries in the Highlands.

• How to pronounce Glen Ord? glen-ore-d
• Country: Scotland
• Region: Highlands
• Founded: 1838
• Current owners: Diageo
• Production capacity per year: 11.9 million litres
• Mash tun: 2x 12.5 ton stainless steel
• Washbacks: 22
• Stills: 14
• Visitor centre: Yes

Glen Ord Distillery
Muir of Ord
Ross-shire
IV6 7UJ
tel – +44 (0) 1463 872004
www.malts.com/the-singleton

Did you know?

Glen Ord is the last remaining distillery in the ‘Black Isle’ in Scotland’s Highlands, approximately an hour north of Inverness. The Black Isle is home to the village of Cromarty, which famously gives its name to one of the regions in The Shipping Forecast.