Port Dundas distillery

The former Lowland Whisky distillery Port Dundas was in the center of Glasgow on the Forth-Clyde Canal, framed by various parks.

Production

Port Dundas is considered a full-bodied, characterful and heavy grain whisky that become a little lighter in the final few years of the distillery. As a classic Diageo distillery, it has always contributed significantly to their numerous blends. Haig, White Horse and Johnnie Walker, among others, were supplied with their grain whisky.

The three coffey stills once produced an impressive 39 million liters of whisky per year. Today the equipment is dismantled and the buildings are torn down. Original bottlings by the owner are extremely rare, but every now and then one or the other worthwhile bottling from one of the numerous independent bottlers appears.

History

Port Dundas was founded in 1817 as a malt distillery, but a short time later it was converted into a grain still and equipped with coffey stills. The inventor of the still of the same name, Aeneas Coffey, is said to be responsible for this. The pioneer of this distillation variant presented it there personally.

From 1860 the distillery cooperated with the Cowlairs distillery and from 1877 Port Dundas was one of the founding members of the Distillers Company Limited (DCL) and developed into the largest distillery in Scotland at the time. In 2010, the owner Diageo decided to close the distillery and relocate production to the Cameronbridge distillery.

Port Dundas factsheet

Can I tour Port Dundas?

No, unfortunately Port Dundas distillery is not open to the public for tours