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As you’re reading this blog and are possibly a customer of Just Whisky Auctions, it’s a fair assumption that you’ve visited more than a few distilleries and taken their tour.

That being the case, your guide almost certainly paused to point out the malt mill. More often than not, it’s a Porteus mill, though you might see the occasional Boby and even the odd Buhler mill.

But if it’s painted in a distinctive, unshowy shade of dark red then what you looked at was a Porteus mill (we’ll come back to the Boby mills shortly).  They’re sturdy little things, standing four-square in the mill room, ready to receive another load of malt, quiet occupants of an unobtrusive corner of the distillery that just get on with their job in a modest and understated way.

If the guide didn’t pause and point it out, a Porteus mill would never shout or draw attention to itself, you feel; happy to do an honest day’s work and then await the next consignment of malt to be turned to grist.

At this point, your guide quite probably explained that the mill was quite old and that the Porteus firm had gone out of business, outlived by the durability and simple excellence of a product so good and so enduring that it broke the company.

So well made that they required relatively little maintenance and with little or no demand for new machines both Porteus and Boby closed down many years ago.  They were outlived by their equipment and undone by the slump in whisky production of the 1970s and 80s and the ruthless consolidation of the brewing industry, meaning fewer and fewer small independent breweries.  Sadly, quite a few mills will have been scrapped which, until recently, hasn’t been a problem.

But it’s worth taking a closer look at these tough and functional looking machines and, if you do, there’s a good chance you’ll see a modest plaque somewhere on the side carrying a telephone number and the name Ronnie Lee.

Some years ago I noticed this on Jura and then, shortly afterwards, at Tobermory distillery and then again at a number of Speyside distilleries. So I began asking various guides ‘Who is this Ronnie Lee?’  No one knew – but as soon as I asked some real production people (as opposed to the friendly guides who for the most part are essentially a PR front and equipped with a marketing script) the pieces of a fascinating story fell quickly into place.

Well it turns out that, in a world of tattooed, bearded Brand Ambassadors with their hipster tweed caps, and rock-star Distillery Managers who jet from whisky show to whisky show, Ronnie Lee is a quiet hero. Yet he doesn’t give master classes, doesn’t blog and he’s definitely not part of the fashionable crowd that increasingly follow whisky these days.  But he – together, these days with son Gareth - are the men who mends the mills.  And, if you think about it, without their expertise there would be no whisky.

Working from their modest base near Chepstow, they run Euro Mechanical Engineering working as freelance millwrights.  As such, they spend most of their working days life in maintaining, servicing and, on occasion, restoring Porteus and Boby mills for the brewing and distilling industry.

Their surroundings are as far removed from whisky’s new image of sophistication, glamour and luxury as you might conceivably imagine, yet they carry out vital work as one of an elite group of engineers who keep these vintage machines in working order. Unsung and unheralded, they are essential to the smooth and effective operation of much of the distilling industry, here and internationally.

In fact, they work for Diageo, Chivas Brothers, Glenmorangie, Highland Distillers and Ian MacLeod Distillers, as well as a number of independent breweries and distilleries as far flung as Sweden, Italy and even the USA. If you want a vintage malt mill, or need one restored, Ronnie Lee is the man you call.

And that brings us to a fascinating twist in the story.  Some years ago, Ronnie acquired all the plans for the Boby mill when that firm closed down. With access to that unique archive, it was Euro Mechanical Engineering’s proud boast that, in theory, they could build a brand new Boby-style mill from scratch based on the original blueprints but updated for greater efficiency and cleaner running.

But why would you, when the originals have a working life of a century or more? Well, basically, they are desperately hard to find and with new distilleries and small breweries being built at an unprecedented pace, there’s a need for equipment of established high quality with a proven heritage.  Even the shiniest of new state-of-the-art distilleries may be discreetly supplied by a 50 or 60 year old machine which, come to think of it, is something quite amazingly heart-warming. But there just aren’t enough to go around.

And so it has come to pass that a new Boby mill has indeed been built and is now heading off to its eventual home in a soon-to-be-opened whisky distillery (which is another story, which we’ll come to in a moment).

The mill, of 4-5 tons capacity, is the product of 12 month’s work by Ronnie and Gareth Lee. The original design has been improved, Gareth telling me that while the exterior closely resembles an old-style Boby, the gears have been done away with, the roller bearings switched to a spherical shape and a double-edged synchronized belt fitted. If, like me, that’s double Dutch to you, I’m assured it means cleaner running (no oil), greater energy efficiency and potentially faster running speeds if desired by the operator. Everything has been built from the ground up with a local foundry providing custom-made castings for the bearings, which were then hand finished by Gareth.

But who has commissioned this work and where is this marvel of skillfully modernized vintage engineering to be found? Let’s hear it for the new owners, the family-owned and independent Ian Macleod Distillers, well-known for their Glengoyne and Tamdhu single malts, the imaginative reopening of Rosebank and their Edinburgh Gin brand.  They are also partners in the proposed Laggan Bay project which, if everything goes to plan, will be Islay’s twelfth distillery.

So the Boby is destined for a Hebridean home? Well, no. In fact, it is travelling around 4,000 miles to Una, a town in the southwestern Himachal Pradesh state in northern India where Macleod Distillers are currently building on a greenfield site.  The distillery, expected to be operational later this year, is designed to produce around 1.0m litres of spirit annually of Indian whisky.

Beyond that, Ian Macleod were tight-lipped though my own lengthy on-line research turned up an Environmental Impact report from the Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board.  From that very comprehensive document we learn that “The project proposes to produce Malt Spirit, part of it matured for at least 2 years and above years for supplies to IMFL [that’s Indian-Made Foreign Liquor] industry for blending in various proportions and part of the matured malt spirit will be matured for more than 3 years to be called as Whisky under International norms and bottled as Indian Single Malt whisky for the Indian and export market”.   Indian Single Malt Whisky from Ian Macleod Distillers – that’s something not yet widely reported and quite a feather in the cap of relatively small independent Scottish distillers.

According to the report, the total cost is approximately £5m – quite the bargain by UK standards. 
Naturally I enquired as to the price of the mill and naturally, and quite correctly, Gareth Lee would not be drawn into the specifics. But he did hint that if you wanted one for your project you could expect to wait some 12 months or so (they’re busy) and expect to write a cheque for rather more than  £100,000.

So this is a mill that grinds slowly but is exceeding fine; evidently a labour of love and a source of great pride – and why not, because as Gareth assured me, “it will be working long after I’m in the ground.”  I wonder if in fifty or more years curious visitors will be regaled with the story – I certainly hope so.

Their surroundings are as far removed from whisky’s new image of sophistication, glamour and luxury as you might conceivably imagine

In our inaugural Blog entry, Guest writer Ian Buxton explores the seemingly unglamorous distillery mill. The unsung hero of whisky distilleries.

The Distillery Mill

Historical

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Held In Bond At Whisky Broker

Heaven Hill 2009 1st Fill Bourbon No.152731

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Staoisha (Bunnahabhain) 2014 Butt No.1386

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Sirius Single Cask No.2055

The Dalmore 44 Year Old 1967

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Cask No. 2395 For Japan

Ardbeg Single Cask 1976

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Douglas Laing Old & Rare Platinum Selection

Brora 32 Years Old 1970

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2020 Tawny Port Pipe Finish (70cl & 5cl)

Jura 44 Years Old 1975 Very Rare Vintage

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The seventh release in The Macallan Archival Series explores one of the legendary Macallan advertising campaigns from 1986, ‘The Boffins Baffled’, which tells the story of a party of scientists who were left positively baffled when asked why The Macallan was so special.

A beautiful and deliciously quirky, interpretation of the story of Macallans exceptional whisky, slumbering patiently in sherry-seasoned oak casks.

The Macallan Directors of the time invited a party of scientists to unravel the story as to why The Macallan was so special, but they were left positively baffled. 

No scientific rationale could account for the magic which took place inside of the casks, so the Boffins insisted on taking extra whisky back to the laboratory – all in the name of ‘research’.
The Folio 7 continues the ongoing Archival Series remembering the legendary advertising campaigns of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s that took The Macallan to a wider audience for the first time.

Macallan The Archival Series Folio 7

Official Bottling

Sherry

Founded in 1824 by Alexander Reid, the Elchies Distillery as it was known initially, did not become the Macallan-Glenlivet in name until 1892. Since then, it has undergone massive expansion with Edrington and William Grant & Sons combining forces in 1999 to purchase Highland Distillers for £601 million. By then, the reputation of the distillery for its sherry-led style of whisky was already firmly in place.

The new ownership model has enabled the distillery to produce new ranges, reach out to new demographics and establish itself as an international brand of quality. Bottles are Macallan are increasingly sought after for their commodity value and not the contents, which often are of high quality. Moving to a new distillery site in recent years, will in the long-term, allow Macallan to produce more and if needed, the old distillery sits idle despite being capable of producing 11 million litres before it closed in 2018.

Macallan

Speyside

Full Size

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70 cl

Folio 7

Macallan The Archival Series

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January 2025

1999-2000 Vintage Cask Strength

Karuizawa Masterpieces in 8 Colours

1999-2000 Vintage Sherry Butt

Karuizawa Masterpieces in 8 Colours 1st Batch

Karuizawa Masterpieces in 8 Colours 2nd Batch

Karuizawa Masterpieces in 8 Colours 3rd Batch

Karuizawa Masterpieces in 8 Colours 4th Batch

Karuizawa Masterpieces in 8 Colours 5th Batch

Karuizawa Masterpieces in 8 Colours 6th Batch

Karuizawa Masterpieces in 8 Colours 7th Batch

Karuizawa Masterpieces in 8 Colours 8th Batch

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Folio 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7

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Folio 1

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Folio 2

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Folio 3

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Folio 4

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Folio 5

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Folio 6

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(6x70cls)

Macallan Edition No.1-6 Collection Case

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West Highland Sherry Wood (Cask No.442)

Springbank 1966-1990 Local Barley

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2007 Bottling Cask Strength

Laphroaig 27 Years Old 1980 Vintage

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Trump International Scotland **Signed by Donald Trump**

Glendronach 26 Years Old

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The Distillery Mill

Historical

In our inaugural Blog entry, Guest writer Ian Buxton explores the seemingly unglamorous distillery mill. The unsung hero of whisky distilleries.

By Ian Buxton