Glenury Royal 1972

If you were looking for Glenury Royal today, all that remains is a plaque mounted on the chimney base in a residential housing site. The town of Stonehaven was once an area of illicit distilling, going back to the early 1800s. Once the legalisation of the industry took effect in 1823, Captain Robert Barclay had already established his distillery as Glenury. Being a friend of King William IV ensured that the ‘Royal’ endorsement followed soon after. A variety of owners followed before the distillery was picked up by DCL in the 1960s and utilised for blends after being expanded. By 1985 it was mothballed due to the problem of overproduction in the 1980s, before being sold in 1992 for residential housing. Some single malts from the distillery do exist and Diageo has released a handful of well-aged Special Editions in recent times, including a 50 year old in 2003.