Glenadon

The below is taken from The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom by Alfred Barnard first published in 1887.

Glenadon Distillery, Old Deer, Aberdeenshire.

ON our way to Peterhead we stopped at the pretty village of Old Deer to inspect its little Distillery. The village is pleasantly situated in a plain, on the south banks of the Deer River. The surrounding country is ornamented with woods and plantations, and there are heath-covered ridges in all directions. Near the village are to be seen the ruins of the Abbey of Deer, built in the thirteenth century by the good Earl of Buchan, for some monks of the Cistercian order; from the appearance of the remains it must have been a very extensive building. There are also, in the vicinity, four Druidical temples, that at Biffie being the most conspicuous, and an object of great interest to antiquarians.

The Lowlands of Aberdeenshire are good grain-growing districts, hence the establishment of Distilleries and Breweries in this neighbourhood. The Glenadon Distillery was built in the year 1845, by Messrs. Milne & Co., the farmer proprietors of the Biffie Brewery close by. It is a nice little compact work, but too small for us to enter into detail, suffice it to say, that the water used comes from the Biffie springs, in a glen some 200 feet above the level of the Distillery, and that home-grown barley only is used. The Whisky is pure Malt, and the annual output is 12,000 gallons. In addition to the Distillery, Messrs. Geo. J. Wilson and Co. are now also the owners of the Biffie Brewery.