Glenkinchie Timeline:

1837: Established by the Rate brothers, John and George, who had been originally farmers and grew and malted their own barley on the premises

1840: Said to have been worked by James Gray of Leechman & Gray

1851: Operating

1852: John Rate is licensee

1853: The Rate brothers went bankrupt, and the distillery was used mainly as a cowshed. A part was sold to a farmer Christie and converted into a sawmill

1880-81: The distillery was bought by the Glen Kinchie Distillery Co., a consortium of whisky merchants and blenders from Leith and Edinburgh and production was started again after rebuilding the distillery and maltings

1890: The Glen Kinchie Distillery Co. was founded with Major James Gray as General Manager. Reconstruction and refurbishment is going on for the next few years

1890-1914: Limited company

1914: Became a founding member of Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd. (SMD), established to consolidate the resources and interest of malt distillers in the Lowlands. Two stills. Licensed to John Haig & Co. Ltd.

1925: Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd. (SMD) is bought by Distillers Company Ltd. (DCL), and Glenkinchie is licensed to join John Haig & Co.

1939-45: One of the few distilleries allowed to maintain a small production during WWII

1968: Floor maltings stopped being used

1969: The old floor maltings is converted into a museum

1972: Stills became steamheated

1988-89: Malt becomes available as a single malt as part of United Distillers’s Classic Malt range

1996: Opening of new visitor centre