Bladnoch distillery

One of only a handful of operating Lowland distilleries Bladnoch has alas spent a considerable portion of it’s life closed, inactive or producing at only a percentage of capacity. Originally founded by John and Thomas McClelland (sometimes spelled McLelland) in 1817 and remained in the family and in operation until 1905 when production ceased (this may relate to the Pattison whisky crisis, or simply due to the extremely dated nature of the distillery). In 1911 T. & A. McLelland Ltd. was liquidated. Dunville & Co. Ltd paid for £10,775 noting that "The Bladnoch Distillery itself has not been worked for about 6 years. It was in the McClelland family since 1818 and must be one of the oldest in Scotland. The main buildings and warehouses are good and substantial but the plant was obsolete and is being entirely renewed partly by new and partly by purchase of plant from Distilleries in the Highlands that have failed". Bladnoch then ran intermittently until 1937 when Dunville & Co was wound up, thereafter the distillery was dismantled equipment was shipped to Sweden. One is now located in the Wine And Spirit Museum in Stockholm, according to “Whisky distilled” two were used at some point by Absolut Vodka though I can find no other reference to this.

Bladnoch reopened in 1956, revived by A.B. Grant & Co. and then Ian Fisher and McGowan & Cameron. Four new stills were introduced (two pairs of wash and spirit stills) and spirit again began to flow, the distillery changed hands repeatedly before finally being mothballed in 1993 by United Distillers. Again the distillery was gutted, only the stills and washbacks were left intact.

Irishman Raymond Armstrong managed to buy Bladnoch from United Distillers (the predecessors of Diageo) in 1994, originally with no intention of resuming production. Bladnoch was given respite in 2000 when Armstrong reached an agreement with United Distillers to resume distillation albeit limited to 100,000 litres per year, a minuscule fraction of the 1,300,000 litres capacity that Bladnoch produced annually in the 1980s. Although the stipulation was rescinded later Bladnoch ceased production a mere 9 years later in 2009 and was put into liquidation in 2014.

Happily though that was not the last spirit to flow from Bladnoch as it caught the eye of Australian entrepreneur David Prior. Having sold off a successful Yoghurt business and originally intending to establish a new distillery in Fife when he heard about the nearly 200 year old distillery offering 55 acres of land, 11 warehouses and around 2,500 casks. Alas much of the distilleries equipment turned out to be worth little more than scrap, the low-wine still was in places "no thicker than a coke can", many of the casks were spent or simply of poor quality and the lade (channel through which the distilleries water supply flowed) hadn’t been cleared out for a decade. In the end Ian Macmillan notes that what could be saved would not fill the "back of a matchbox". In spite of this challenge by 2017, less than 2 years after Ian Macmillan came on spirit was flowing from Bladnoch once again just in time for the distilleries 200 year anniversary.

Bladnoch factsheet

Can I tour Bladnoch?

Yes Bladnoch distillery is tourable. On Trip Advisor the distillery has been rated as excellent by 146 of 176 tours to date. This gives Bladnoch an overall rating of 5.0