Bladnoch Lowland Whisky Distillery
The most Southerly of Scottish whisky distilleries Bladnoch is located in Dumfries & Galloway on the river Bladnoch which it takes its name. This is rolling hills and farmland (where rich barley grows) country close to the coastal picturesque town of Wigtown. This lowland whisky has been in production since 1817 when it was owned and licensed (1825) by the McClelland family however little is known about this remote distillery until it ceased production in 1905. In 1911 the distillery was purchased by Northern Irish whiskey merchants Dunville & Co who used the whisky to satisfy demand for their products in Ireland which were selling well, however Bladnoch was mis-managed and a failure to provide housing in the remote location. Bladnoch subsequently went into liquidation in 1937 after only bottling once in 10 years.
The problems didn’t stop there and the stills being sold to a company in Sweden. Bladnoch lay quiet for almost 20 years before A.B Grant purchased the facility and replaced the stills. It was so successful that the number of stills was increased to 4 and the distillery went on to change hands several times having owners including Bell’s, Inverhouse, Guiness, United Distillers and Diageo (some due to acquisition).Once again a Northern Irish man called Raymond Armstrong purchased the site and after much wrangling with Diageo restarted the whisky stills on Bladnoch however Diageo restricted their production to 100,000 litres per annum.
Bladnoch is now thriving again and released 3 young bottlings in 2008 which were OK for 6 year old whiskies. A sweet sherry, bourbon and a peated version were released. The addition of a visitor centre has proved popular with passing tourist and Bladnoch now hopefully has a brighter future than its troubled past.

Taste: Often light in colour and taste with many cask strengths available.