The Singleton of Glen Ord is a

whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden ca ...

distillery in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland S ...

and is the only remaining single malt scotch whisky distillery on the

Black Isle The Black Isle ( gd, an t-Eilean Dubh, ) is a peninsula within Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish Highlands. It includes the towns of Cromarty and Fortrose, and the villages of Culbokie, Jemimaville, Rosemarkie, Avoch, Munlochy, Tore, and ...

. They produce a 12 year old, 15 year old and 18 year old single malt that's available for export only to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. The distillery won awards for the best single malt at the

International Wine and Spirit Competition The International Wine & Spirit Competition is an annual wine and spirit competition founded in 1969 by the German/British oenologist Anton Massel. Each year the competition receives entries from over 90 countries worldwide. The awards given by ...

in 1994 and 1996, and at the

Monde Selection Monde Selection is an annual non-competitive award open to food, drinks, and cosmetics products, created in 1961. It is run by the commercial company, International Institute for Quality Selections, Brussels, Belgium. Consumer products are tasted a ...

in 1996 and 1997. However, IWSC and Monde Selection awards are non-competitive and only products that pay to enter are judged.

History

In the mid-13th century the MacKenzies of Ord were granted lands in the west of Scotland by King Alexander III. In 1820 Thomas MacKenzie of Ord inherited the estate embarked on rejuvenating the area. A large portion of MacKenzie's land was devoted to the cultivation of

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

, as such he decided to lease the land for a distillery to be built, this would also provide year round employment for local men.History of Glen Ord Distillery at Discovering Distilleries.org
/ref> At the time there were nine small licensed distilleries operating in the area to compete with, the majority of which were being run by ten-twelve of the

tenant farmers A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

. The whole of the barley crop was used in the distilleries as it was the fastest way of turning it into funds with which to pay the rent. Water from Loch nam Bonnach and Loch nan Eun flowed to two large

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or bucket ...

s from which the distillery derived its power. The water for the mashing was taken from a well known as the Cuckoo Well. In its early days the distillery operated under the name of the Ord Distillery Company. It employed 18 people and was founded in 1838 by licence holders Robert Johnstone and Donald MacLennan, who both eventually went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in 1847. In spite of bankruptcy, the distillery continued to operate illegally for a few years before they received another licence under new owners, Alexander McLennan and Thomas McGregor, in 1855. By the time of McLennan's death in 1870, Glen Ord was sold throughout the

British Colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Coun ...

, including places as far as

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. His widow married Alexander MacKenzie, a bank clerk from Beauly, who took over running the distillery in 1877. Upon taking over the enterprise, McKenzie constructed several new buildings which were burnt down soon afterwards. In 1880, he began marketing and selling some of Glen Ord under the name of Glen Oran. In 1896, MacKenzie sold the distillery to James Watson & Son, whisky blenders of Dundee, who purchased the enterprise for £15,800. The company had previously acquired three other distilleries as they were primarily invested in selling blended high quality whiskies, particularly Watson's No. 10. With the onset of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1917 the distillery was closed, along with a number of other similar businesses, by the government in order to preserve barley for food supplies. The distillery reopened after the war in 1919. However, the Watsons sold the company only four years later to Thomas Dewars & Sons of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, who amalgamated with the

Distillers Company The Distillers Company Limited was a leading Scottish drinks and pharmaceutical company and, at one time, a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was taken over by Guinness & Co. (now part of Diageo) in 1986 in a transaction which was later ...

. They in turn, sold the distillery again in 1930 to Scottish Malt Distillers, a subsidiary company of Distillers Company Ltd. The distillery closed its doors for a second time in 1939 due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. They did not open again until 1946. Three years later, the distillery installed electrical wiring for the first time into the building, giving up the use of paraffin lamps. In 1958 the distillery went through another major change when the Meal mill closed. In 1961 the distillery ceased the use of their floor maltings and began using new saladin boxes. Five years later they greatly expanded production by tripling the number of coal-fired stills from two to six, outfitting them with steam-heated coils. They continued improvements in 1968 by constructing large mechanical floor maltings next to the distillery that could meet the needs of not only their operation but seven other Scottish Malt Distillers. Glen Ord, however, continued to use their own saladin boxes until 1983. In 1985 DCL, including its subsidiary Scottish Malt Distillers, merged with Guinness. The resultant grain and malt distilling enterprises were organised under the name of United Distillers Ltd. In 1997 Guinness and

Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to for ...

merged to form Diageo, with head offices in London. In 2001 the distillery began using Biobed Modular Plant technology to treat

wastewater Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industrial ...

with low

chemical oxygen demand In environmental chemistry, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) is an indicative measure of the amount of oxygen that can be consumed by reactions in a measured solution. It is commonly expressed in mass of oxygen consumed over volume of solution whic ...

(COD) loads. The distillery was the first company in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to adopt such technology. Today the distillery continues to produce Glen Ord whisky for Diageo, which includes the whisky in Johnnie Walker blends and Diageo’s Singleton series. The distillery offers public tours throughout the year with hours on a seasonal schedule.Tour information for Glen Ord Distillery
/ref> Glen Ord also doubles their distillery capacities by a big new building with several new wash and spirit stills in 2014.

References

External links

{{Whisky distilleries in Scotland Scottish malt whisky Diageo brands 1838 establishments in Scotland Black Isle