Glen Garioch 1997

Glen Garioch was recently in the news as its owners, Beam Suntory, confirmed that it was returning to the old-style distillation, thanks to new investment. Founded in 1797 it is one of Scotland’s oldest and best-preserved distilleries. Amongst enthusiasts, it is well-known for being the most heavily peated mainland whisky during the 1960s. The peat continued into the early 90s before the distillery was mothballed in 1995. Due to the historical nature of the buildings, a buyer could not be found or permission granted to turn the site into residential accommodation. The only option was to bring back the distillery in 1997, but unpeated and with a new style of whisky. Since then Glen Garioch hasn’t enjoyed the appearance and success of bygone decades. A solid enough whisky, it was lacking the element that made it such a wonderful experience. As the saying goes, watch this space as, like Brora, we could be seeing a classic style of whisky on the shelves.