Oldmeldrum’s Glen Garioch Distillery has reopened to the public for the first time in two years.
The Scotch whisky maker has spent the bulk of the pandemic undergoing a £6 million refurbishment that has brought back some elements of the old days.
The refurb, first announced in March last year, is finally complete and visitors can now get a first glimpse of Glen Garioch’s new look.
Upgrades include floor maltings and a direct-fire still. The traditional whisky-making methods are only used in a handful of distilleries.
Meanwhile, the refurb has cut the distillery’s carbon footprint by about 15%.
Distillery reopens to sustainable future
“It’s been amazing to re-open the distillery up to the public after all this time, and especially to show them all the work that has been done so far to reinstate our traditional processes and drive towards our vision of a more sustainable future,” said distillery manager Kwanele Mdluli. “It’s truly an exciting and milestone moment for Glen Garioch as we open this new chapter in our history.”
Visitors will get an up-close look at the production process and the new floor maltings, where the wet grain used to make the whisky is laid out to germinate.
The process helps to create the sugar that is turned into alcohol during distillation.
A direct-fire still is rare in whisky distilleries, which today normally use steam to heat the large copper stills that distil the spirit. Instead, the direct process uses a live flame to heat the still.
Glen Garioch is owned by Beam Suntory, the international spirits arm of Japanese drinks giant Suntory.
The group also owns Ardmore, Auchentoshan, Laphroaig, Bowmore and Teacher’s in operations employing more than 360 people.
According to Beam Suntory, Glen Garioch is one of the oldest operational distilleries in Scotland and the country’s most easterly.
It sits just outside Oldmeldrum on Distillery Road and has been making single malt whisky since 1797.
As part of the reopening, Glen Garioch is offering visitors the chance to bottle their own whisky straight from the cask in one of the distillery’s warehouses.
The bottlings are a newly-launched expression, the 1991 Bourbon Single Cask.