Glengyle distillery is a long-established Scotch whisky production centre in

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing ...

Argyll & Bute Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020). ...

, that closed down in 1925. In 2000 it was totally re-planned as the first new Scottish distillery of the millennium. Its single malts are bottled under the name Kilkerran.

Early history

The Glengyle

distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

was founded in 1872 by William Mitchell and completed in 1873. Shortly after completion in 1873 a storm took off the roof of the distillery. Mitchell had previously been involved with

Springbank Distillery The Springbank distillery is a family-owned single malt whisky distillery on the Kintyre Peninsula in western Scotland. It is owned by J & A Mitchell & Company, which also owns the Glengyle distillery, the oldest independent bottler, William C ...

but following a quarrel with his brother John, with whom he owned Springbank, he first joined his other brothers at Reichlachan distillery before venturing out on his own. In 1919 the distillery was sold as a result of the post-war economic downturn which was badly affecting all the distilleries in the

Region. It was up for auction again in 1923 and sold for £350 () in 1924 and by 1925 had ceased production with all remaining stock being sold off. After being used as a rifle range, an attempt to reopen the distillery by Sir Maurice Bloch, who, with his brother, also owned the

Glen Scotia Glen Scotia distillery or sometimes affectionately known as The Scotia or Old Scotia is a distillery that is a producer of single malt Scotch whisky. The distillery was founded in 1832 and is one of just three distilleries left in Campbeltown, the ...

distillery, failed due to Second World War as did a second attempt by Campbell Henderson Ltd. in the 1950s.

21st-century history

In late 2000 the company of Mitchell's Glengyle Ltd. was formed with the express purpose of renovating and rebuilding the Glengyle distillery. Mitchell's Glengyle is associated with the Springbank Distillery, and both operations come under the guidance of Mr. Hedley Wright, a descendant of the Mitchell Family, the original owners of both businesses. Over the next four years the buildings were repaired to an adequate standard, being restored in line with the local area and the buildings'

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

status (protected by law). Since the original distillery equipment had been disposed of in the 1920s, new

still A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been used ...

s, malt mills, a

mash tun In brewing and distilling, mashing is the process of combining a mix of ground grains – typically malted barley with supplementary grains such as corn, sorghum, rye, or wheat – known as the "grain bill" with water and then heating the ...

and washbacks were installed along with all the related equipment. In reality much of this was not new, coming instead from other distilleries which had either ceased production or had surplus equipment.

Production

Production at the new Glengyle distillery began in 2004 with the first spirit expected to be ready by 2014. Glengyle is the first new distillery of the millennium and is part of a trend in new distilleries which include Arran (1995) and Daftmill (2005). The whisky from the Glengyle distillery is not called Glengyle, rather it is bottled under the name Kilkerran. This is because the name is owned by Loch Lomond Distillers, and used for their

vatted malt A blended malt, formerly called a vatted malt, or pure malt, is a blend of different single malt whiskies from different distilleries. These terms are most commonly used in reference to Scotch whisky, or whisky in that style, such as Japanese ...

. The name Kilkerran comes from the gd, Ceann Loch Cille Chiarain ("head of the lake of Saint Kieran's cell"), the name of a settlement where Saint Kieran is believed to have had a religious cell and where modern Campbeltown stands today.

References

Sources

External links

Kilkerran Distillery Official Website
{{Scottish Distilleries Scottish malt whisky 1872 establishments in Scotland Distilleries in Scotland Campbeltown