Photo Archive Compliments of Mark Davidson

Silent Distillery Profile; Lochside 

Operational: 1957[1]

Closed: In 1996. Silent in April 1992, dismantled in 1997 however the warehouses survived until 1999 when they were demolished.

Region: Eastern Highlands

Operational Owner: 1957 MacNab Distillers Ltd.

Current Owner: Muir Homes (as of 2005)

Address: Brechin Road, Montrose, Angus, DD10 9AD 

In 1957 Lochside Distillery was converted from an old Deuchars Brewery at Montrose by Joseph Hobbs (MacNab Distillers) and was initially fitted with one patent still and later four pots stills. The name of Joseph Hobbs is generally associated with Ben Nevis Distillery in FortWilliam but his name is also associated with many distilleries around Scotland. In 1931 Hobbs returned from Canada after losing a great deal of money in the depression of the time and commenced the buying up malt distilleries. In 1937 he bought Bruichladdich distillery on Islay from Harvey family, so ending that family’s long connection with the industry. In association with Train & McIntyre, a Glasgow firm of wine and spirit merchants owned by National Distillers of America, he purchased Glenury Royal Distillery in 1936, Glenkinchie Distillery in 1937 and North Esk Distillery (also known as Highland Esk, Montrose, Glenesk and Hillside Distillery) in 1938. The distilleries were transferred to a wholly owned subsidiary of Train & McIntyre, Associated Scottish Distillers Ltd. and Train & MacIntyre brought the Strathdee distillery, Aberdeen into the group, and added Fettercairn and Benromach in 1938. The conversion of North Esk into Montrose Grain Distillery made the group fully integrated.  Hobbs re-equipped North Esk distillery to produce grain whisky and renamed it Montrose Distillery (in 1954 they sold it to the Distillers Company Limited who then transferred it to Scottish Malt Distillers in 1964 who converted it back to a malt distillery).   

The convoluted world of the whisky business. 

James Deuchars were the producers of Newcastle Brown Ale and the Montrose brewery was originally built in the 1760’s and operated as a brewery until the 1950’s. James Deuchar purchased the brewery in 1833 and Charles Doig, the famous distillery architect, designed some of the newer brewery buildings in the style of breweries in Germany & Belgium. The tower, in the Bauhaus design style, housed equipment to start the brewing process and the finished beer was housed on the lowest floor. The finished beer was sold in pubs in the Tyneside markets in Newcastle. “Beeries”, the ships used to transport the beer to the Newcastle area, were loaded at the Montrose docks and this practice continued until 1956. That year Scottish & Newcastle Breweries bought Lochside and shut it down moving all operations to Edinburgh. In 1957, Joseph Hobbs through MacNab Distillers bought Lochside with an eye towards its potential to produce grain whisky and this it did until 1961. When the much larger Invergordon grain distillery was built Joseph Hobbs realized that Lochside could not effectively compete against such a large rival so he had some of the brewing equipment converted to four Pot Stills and thus Lochside produced both grain and malt whisky. Further, Hobbs had these two whiskies ‘blended at birth’ (a practice he also used at Ben Nevis Distillery) where both grain and malt whisky are married together and then put into the cask for maturation.[2]  The whisky produced at Lochside contributed to the blend, Sandy MacNab’s. The Coffey still was 67 feet tall and was mothballed in 1970 after the founder, Joseph Hobbs who died in 1964. However the mothballed Coffey still was not removed until later.[3] Unusually the distillery had a bottling plant on site. 

Hobbs named his company MacNab Distilleries Ltd after John MacNab, the owner of Glenmavis Distillery at Bathgate (to the west of Edinburgh) from whom Hobbs had purchased MacNab’s brand names. From 1855 until its closure in 1910 Glenmavis used a Coffey still to make malt whisky and this unusual set up piqued Hobbs’s interest. This seems to have been the impetuous for Hobbs to install Coffey stills at Lochside and Ben Nevis.[4] 

In 1971 the distillery was closed and remained so for two years until it was bought by a Spanish company, Destilerias Y Crianza Del Whisky, abbreviated to DYC pronounced DEEK. DYC bought Lochside in order to improve the quality of the Spanish blends by using Scottish malt whisky in their own blends. The vast majority of the whisky produced at Lochside was shipped to Spain in bulk until 1996 when the last of the mature whisky left the distillery warehouse. At the same time blended whisky was bottled on site and later the owners decided to bottle their own single malt in the form of a 10 year old Lochside malt which was described as having ‘a subtle and delicate nose with a hint of peat. The flavours included a vanilla sweetness with echoes of the peat, initially found in the nosing.’

Due to the success of the whisky (high sales) the company became part of Allied Distillers in 1992. Production of Lochside single malt ended in June of the same year, and the remaining cases of whisky were then sold until all stocks were depleted in 1996. At that time the distillery was closed and the remaining staff were made redundant. 

The distillery had one cast iron mash tun and nine stainless steel washbacks. Both the mash tun and wash-backs were without covers . The stills were very similarly designed with lyne arms that have a slight downward angle, and somewhat tall thin necks that form the traditional onion shape where it joins the shoulders of the stills. The spirit was then aged in bourbon casks.

The local area from early times was known as “Clayshades” which refers to the clay area to the south and west of the distillery. At some point before 1830 the  brewery was referred to as ‘Lochside’ on land title/deed documents. [5] 

The name Lochside derives from the distillery standing beside a small loch (Mary’s Loch) which was used to provide water for production but this later dried out. The subsequent water source was an artesian well beneath the distillery supplying hard water.[6]  The risk of drawing up saline water, due to the proximity to the sea, must have been high.[7]

‘The saddest part of the story is that Lochside was an outstanding whisky. Since much of the distillery production went into blends or was exported for sale in Spain, few lovers of whisky had an opportunity to sample Lochside and it never established a reputation as a single malt.’[8]

The last manager was named Charles Sharpe and Elizabeth Riley Bell interviewed him for her article which appears in the Scotch Malt Whisky Society archives. 

The site is now completely void of distillery buildings and warehouses.

Peaty AnCnoc – Rutter and Flaughter

Peat smoke. To many it’s the key flavour in whiskies and for others it’s the reason they don’t drink whisky. While only relatively few whiskies are actually noticeably peaty, it’s become one of the best-known characteristics of Scotch whisky, and distilleries often define themselves by how smoky their spirit is. Some distilleries have been playing with their spirit character over the years, producing whiskies that are a bit different to expected. The latest addition to that club is Knockdhu with its new anCnoc Peaty range: Rutter and Flaughter. 

Peat used to be one of the most common heat sources in Scotland, and it’s from burning it to dry malting barley that the traditional smokiness gets into the malt. From the mid-1600s, using coke as a heat source grew in popularity, and as it became easier for the more remote areas of the Highlands to get their hands on smokeless fuel, whisky became less smoky. These days, peating levels are very much a choice, with maltsters allowing distillers to order malt of pretty much any level of peatiness. 

They don’t use the old kiln at Knockdhu these days, but it is very atmospheric…

We couldn’t talk about peating in a remotely geeky way without mentioning ppm — phenol parts per million, the standard measure of peatiness. Most smoky whiskies will at some time boast of their ppm, giving an indication of how smoky they are. However, it’s not quite as easy as that — most give the ppm of the malt, something quite different to the final level in the spirit produced or the whisky when it’s bottled. While there is obviously a correlation, the mashing, fermentation, distillation and ageing processes all remove phenols and lower the ppm, so a whisky could be rather more or less peaty than you might expect from the peatiness of the barley.

When I visited Knockdhu a couple of years ago they were using barley peated to 45-48ppm, about the same as Ardbeg, but these new whiskies were distilled a bit before that, using barley peated to less than half that level — about 15-20ppm. With the big Islay malts boasting much higher numbers, the folks at anCnoc did some testing of bottled spirits to make it easier to compare the new Peaty whiskies to existing releases: 

Combine that with the table in Whisky Science’s excellent peat post and we find that anCnoc keeps a lot more of its peat during the production process than the more established smoky bottlings. There will be reasons behind this (the whisky is younger than many of the comparable bottlings; they almost certainly mash, ferment and distil differently to the Islay whiskies, their local microclimate is different, and so on) but it mainly goes to show that barley ppm isn’t that reliable an indicator of final peatiness. From a quick glance over the Whisky Science figures, I’d expect the Rutter and Flaughter to come in at a similar level to Bowmore, but they’re a fair bit peatier than that.

The release of the whiskies was accompanied by a Twitter tasting, and Stuart and I joined in with the #LightOnDark crew to have a try of the whiskies — here’s what we thought: 

anCnoc Rutter, 46%. 11ppm

Billy:

Nose: Mixed candied peel, candied lemon and drizzle cake, but with sharpness behind. Glazed ham touches, with some earthiness and sweet, muddy peat. Fresher fruit develops, with apple skin, sweet apple and pineapple kubes. Some more marine notes — seashells? More sweetshop aromas appear as it sits in the glass, with peat turning to fruit — foam bananas, Refreshers-style chews (but without the zing). Buttercream comes in towards the end, along with some tarry notes.

Palate: A mineral hit up front — granite and limestone. Sweetness comes in behind along with apple skin and pepper, earthy peat smoke, cinnamon and anise touches. Creaminess with vanilla and a hint of spirit develops as well as some barrel char. With water there is more tar and darkness, minerals and more intensity — liquorice perhaps?

Finish: Sweetness fades to charred oak and some more apple peel. Mineral notes remain.

Stuart:

Nose: Clean, citrus notes to the fore, with some peat in the background quietly doing its thing, and a smidgen of gingerbread spice.

Palate: Creamy texture, but fresh, focused and precise. The peat comes through but never dominates, leaving a sprightly, zippy malt with green-apple notes.

Finish: Clean, with lingering peat and fresh fruit.

anCnoc Flaughter, 46%. 14.8ppm

Billy:

Nose: Waxy up front, with muddy smoke. It’s more austere than its stablemate, Rutter, with mineral notes of granite and limestone. Green apple and sweeter fruit develops in the glass along with some chocolate, milky coffee, floral touches, butter and nutmeg.

Palate: Big mineral hit up front — gravel and granite chips. Sweetness builds behind with fresh sweet apples, floral syrup and then fades through darker flavours — stewed apples, dark brown sugar, raisins, blackcurrant and liquorice sweets, and some earth and tar. Water lightens things up and maybe not for the better — more spice and sweetness, but less complexity.

Finish: Spice and earth, with anise, syrup, and lingering gravel and creosotey hints.

Stuart:

Nose: Just a flicker of grassiness which soon evolves into rich, intense aromas of earthy malt and brioche.

Palate: Dense, tightly knit and full bodied. A lot going on here. Tropical fruit, almonds, gutsy earthiness and grippy peat. Let this one develop in the glass – the whisky will thank you for it.

Finish: That nagging earthiness continues, as does the peat.

Annoyingly for us UK-based retailers there is a third whisky in the Peaty range — Tushkar. Annoying because it’s exclusive to Sweden, where anCnoc is hugely popular, and we won’t be seeing it on this side of the North Sea.

anCnoc Tushkar, 46%. 15ppm

Billy:

Nose: Lots of buttery sweetness — spiced cake batter, pine needles, mint, pear drops and Jelly Tots. Dessicated coconut, lemon oil. Vanilla develops, along with smoke, although the latter sits behind. Tweedy peat with musty blankets, foresty touches. Eventually lots of mustiness shows, especially after tasting.

Palate: Again quite minerally up front — old firepits and rockpool touches. Goes quite green and vegetal on the way to a central sweetness with fruity sweets, and then veers back off into the grass — more leaves, stacked grass and some apple peel sourness. Water kills the smoke and reveals masses of fruit — Jelly Tots, jelly and gummi chews — as well as some menthol, mint and syrup.

Finish: Quite confected, with sweetener and jelly fruits. Fruitiness lingers with some gravel and smoke coming through. Sweetness hangs around.

Stuart:

Nose: Nice balance between peat smoke and honeyed pear drops.

Palate: Very rich and peaty, blossoming into complex spiciness softened with honey. Appealing freshly baked bread character with a touch of salinity.

Finish: Long, with the peat and smoke dominating.

A successful experiment and one that I suspect we may see repeated from the other Inver House distilleries. I know at least Balblair is making smoky spirit already, as I tried it when I visited back in early 2011. That spirit will be legally whisky in about a month, so if the anCnoc whiskies make the impression we think they will, we may well see their sibling distillers bottling something similar…

Originally published on The Whisky Exchange Blog – Peaty AnCnoc – Rutter and Flaughter

Whisky Ramblings Via Video #85

Mark Dermul, Belgian Whiskyblogger, tries the newest release from the Glenglassaugh Distillery, which has been closed more than it has been open. But since the reopening in 2008, a lot has happened. After the release of the Revival and the Evolution, the distillery was bought by Billy Walker (of BenRiach and GlenDronach fame) and they have just released their third young whisky. This time, it is a richly peated version of the highlander: the Glenglassaugh Torfa. The video was shot at the Star Wars set of Mos Espa, just outside of Nefta in Tunisia.

http://youtu.be/TJhL4TmWRSA

© Robert Hall 2012 roberthall.com

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First Friday in May 2014 you’ll sample 3 top-shelf features then pick 2 malts from our single malt menu. $40

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watch Mark Gillespie’s WhiskyCast HD: “Life on the Road with Whisky’s Wanderers“

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This week Joe Ellis reviews the Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey! 

http://youtu.be/UkLPINge6aA 

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www.ralfy.com greets the arrival of summer with Whisky Review 449 – Glen Moray 10yo Chardonnay Casks

Limited Release Whisky Available at Mora’s Fine Wine & Spirits (E. Setauket, NY)  

Chichibu Ichiro’s Malt The First Single Malt Japanese Whisky – $223.99

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Silent Distillery Profile; Port Ellen 

by Lawrence Graham

Operational: 1825 silent from 1929-67 but bonded warehouses and maltings continued to operate.

Closed: In May 1983. License returned in 1992.

Region: Islay, south shore.

Operational Owner: 17th December, 1997 United Distillers & Vintners Ltd, Diageo Plc.

Current Owner: Diageo Plc.

Address: Port Ellen, Isle of Islay, Argyll & Bute, PA42 7AH[1] 

Port Ellen. If there is one distillery that evokes strong emotions in the heart of the enthusiast it must be Port Ellen. As bottlings, official and unofficial become scarcer the angst only grows. Can’t they simply rebuild it? Possible but tragically, unlikely. This south shore of Islay distillery was originally founded by Alexander Ker Mackay with the support of the owner of Islay, Walter Frederick Campbell, M.P. of Shawfield & Islay. One source indicates that Port Ellen was actually a malt mill built in 1825 by Alexander Ker Mackay and was only converted to a distillery a few years later.[2]  Most other sources give the date of 1825 for the actual building of the distillery but this appears to be incorrect. 

The distillery’s original name was Leodamus “Leods Moss” but was renamed after Lady Eleanor/Ellinor Campbell, Port of Lady Eleanor/Ellinor, the wife of Walter Frederick Campbell.[3] The water source was the Leorin Lochs just to the north of the distillery. 

When distilling became the main focus of Port Ellen the legal rights can only be described as convoluted; Mackay held the ground lease for the distillery, the building lease was held by Major James Adair of Dumfries and Glasgow, who sublet to John Morrison and associates, George MacLennan and Patrick Thomson. Despite the convoluted arrangement Mackay appears to have been in charge. [4]  

Some time in the early 1830’s John Ramsay, who was to have such a positive impact on Port Ellen for the next 60 years, entered the scene. Over time Ramsay was to have extensive business dealings with Walter Frederick Campbell, the local laird. 

Ramsay expanded the distillery by adding a second duty free warehouse in 1839 due to increased business. In period of 1841 to 1843 Port Ellen worked a Stein patent still with malt only.[5]  In 1840 the holder of the building lease, Major James Adair died and this left Ramsay in a precarious position since he badly needed the building leases to continue operating the distillery. The distillery and buildings went up for public auction and a high bid from Glasgow was received but the local laird, Walter Frederick Campbell exercised his right of pre-emption and matched the bid from Glasgow thus securing the distillery. Ramsay was only 25 years old. In 1844 Queen Victoria was purchasing Port Ellen for Her Majesty’s Cellar and Walter Frederick Campbell encouraged Ramsay to take advantage of this. A large part of this success was the direct export from Islay to North America.  During this period Ramsay had extensive agricultural and business interests on the island and in addition was a Member of Parliament.  At one point through inheritance and business dealings Ramsay became the landlord of Ardbeg, Ardenistiel, Laphroaig and Lagavulin distilleries. Ramsay died in 1892 at age 77 and the distillery, through his estate, passed onto his wife and then his son Iain. At the end of the Great War Iain found that his business faced with a lack of capital, the effects of the war and dwindling markets in the USA due to the introduction of prohibition. In 1920 the distillery became the property of W P Lowrie and John Dewar & Sons (in the same deal involving Buchanan-Dewar Ltd Lochruan Distillery, Campbeltown and Port Ellen were merged into the same company). In 1930 the distillery was transferred to the Scottish Malt Distillers and finally the Distillers Company.[6] As Neil Wilson comments in his book The Island Whisky Trail “At the time (1930) there was enough whisky warehoused in Port Ellen to last 40 years, and the more cynical observers will remind you that it was fully 37 years before the distillery came on stream again.” 

In the 1930’s the Distillers Company owned five Islay distilleries, Caol Ila, Lagavulin, Lochindaal, Malt Mill and Port Ellen. 

In the mid 1880’s Alfred Barnard visited Port Ellen, tape measure and letter of introduction at hand, and was conducted around the ‘works’ by the distiller, the manager being absent. He commented that the beach in front of the distillery was perfect for bathing and be ‘much appreciated and visited if there were some lodging houses or cottages available, and the place were nearer to Glasgow’. In particular Barnard took special note of three spacious barley lofts, three maltings floors (with steeps), two kilns with wire cloth floors, the Malt Store, the Mill Room containing a pair of malt rollers, the Mash Tun, a Wash Charger and heating tanks etc, etc. 

From there he moved onto the Tun Room which contained seven Fermenting backs and in the Still Room, two old Pot Stills with there also being present two receivers. 

Further he described Port Ellen as having six handsome warehouses containing 3,700 cask or 240,000 gallons of whisky of different ages and stated that Port Ellen had a capacity of producing 140,000 gallons of Islay Malt per year. Barnard made further note of the peats; that only the peats cut locally were used in the drying process and that the water derived from two lochs, one for distilling noted for ‘its clearness and purity’ and the other for driving machinery. The distillery also had it’s own cooperage and Seasoning House for casks, a fine Spirit Store and one of Morton’s Refrigerators (for cooling the wort). 

In 1966 & 7 the distillery was reopened and the number of stills was extended from two to four. The extensive re-build of the distillery involved improvements to the malt barns, steeps and kilns plus other improvements costing £400,000. 

Despite this investment in producing malt in 1973 the Port Ellen Maltings were completed. In May 1983 trucks ceased to deliver malt from next door to the distillery when SMD (Distillers Company) closed Port Ellen forever. 

Shame on them. 

In 1992 the license was returned to the Excise.

[1] The Scottish Whisky Distilleries by Misako Udo