Bladnoch Distillery, Lowlands

The Bladnoch distillery started its life as a farm on the banks of the river Bladnoch in 1817. It belonged to Thomas McClelland and remainded in the hands of the McClelland / McLelland family (who also rebuilt the distillery in 1871) until it was closed in 1938.

Bladnoch had a string of owners, before Bladnoch Distillery Ltd. bought it back in 1956 and regenerated its production. This was followed by a short spell under the ownership of Arthur Bell & Sons, which was eventually incorporated to United Distillers (Diageo) in 1985.

Diageo mothballed the stills in 1993 and converted it to a heritage centre. Raymond Armstrong, an Irish businessman acquired it on year later and in 2000 he managed to get the whole operation back into working order.

However, the production is limited at about 100.000 litres (esp. when compared to the late 80’s output of 1,300,000 litres). Most of is sold on a strict, confidential pre-allocation.