Dumbarton 1964

Dumbarton is a town near Glasgow that once had its own huge distilling complex that appeared almost overnight as Canadian firm, Hiram Walker, moved into the Scotch whisky industry in a big way. The catalyst was the acquisition of the Ballantine’s brand, although the firm already owned 2 malt distilleries that could provide content, a blended scotch requires grain whisky. This wasn’t in short supply as agreements could be made, but Hiram Walker wanted control of its own supply chain and to do this, it built Dumbarton. Grain whisky production started in 1938 and by that time, it was the largest distillery of its kind in Scotland. Within the complex, Hiram Walker also built Inverleven to provide more malt whisky for the blends, but we’ll come to that. Hiram’s flirtation with scotch came to an end in 1988 when it was acquired by Allied Lyons, who shortly closed the distilleries within the site. For many years thereafter, all that remained as a reminder was the huge red brick tower that had become a local landmark. This endured until 2017 when the last physical remnant of the site was demolished by developers.