GLENDRONACH – A History by Mark Davidson – Scotch Whisky History
GLENDRONACH
by
Mark Davidson
The Jolly Toper
We whisky lovers have a lot to thank the 5th Duke of Gordon for, in Elgin a statue to this far sighted defender of the dram stands tall on a column, elevated to the high esteem he was held in by the locals. As an influential early nineteenth century land owner he was instrumental in heralding changes in governmental attitudes towards licensing and taxing within the whisky industry. Thanks to his concern in the welfare of his estates changes were wrung which ultimately made legal distillation more attractive than the illicit alternative. However not everyone wanted change- better to pay no tax or licence fee at all and do as you please rather than accept the gauger’s authority. At first anyone thinking of swapping sides in the war between court and crofter was threatened into submission. Eventually common sense prevailed and all but the staunchest rebel was persuaded to go legitimate. The most famous ‘turncoat’ was the first – George ‘Smith’ (his real name was Gow) of Glenlivet, in 1824. However there quickly followed others, notably James Allardes and his three farmer partners.
As the son of William, the owner of the Boynsmill estate, Allardes, nicknamed ’Cobbie’, was surely aware if not even directly involved with smuggling in the Huntly area- beyond the eastern fringes of Speyside. It is a matter for conjecture what exactly his relationship with the Duke was but stories survive of him enjoying favour with the peer. Pivotal in the Duke delivering the goods on his proposals was having his tenants’ cooperation. Perhaps Allardes was himself a persuasive character and by introducing him to the rewards of civility the Duke may have played a strategic game when making honest men of the many ‘sma still’ workers on his land.
Situated about five miles north east of Huntly in the Forgue valley the current distillery has grown over nearly 200 years from humble beginnings as a converted meal mill. Glendronach takes its name from the river its still house now straddles, the Dronac, meaning ‘bramble’. Adjacent is Glen House which was built in 1771 and for years has been a fine venue for much hospitality. The house possibly once had its own brewery and hence distillation allowed for some of the local barley to be skilled into a seasonal prize.
Allardes’s time with the distillery was not particularly enduring (although his initials are still stencilled on cask ends) and some cite his attraction to society life as being his downfall. Initially he would travel promoting his ‘guid Glendronach’ – one episode has our hero attempt to persuade Edinburgh taverns to stock his wares but finding no luck he had resigned to failure when two ladies of the night in the Canongate area encouraged him to buy them a drink. Having brought samples he felt he no longer had a need for he decided to share his pride and joy. Very soon the girls had spread word of how good the stuff was and their influence over Edinburgh landlords soon had orders for stock arriving at the distillery. Returning north, an unfortunate, and second, but more devastating fire in 1837 was to destroy nearly the whole site and saw James Allardes connection to Glendronach end due to his subsequent bankruptcy in 1842. At this point both he and his brother had to hand over their share of the company. Also at this time most parties of the original consortium chose to leave, their spaces being filled by new investors.
Subsequently one Walter Scott originally from Falkirk took command from the three remaining partners becoming a managing partner from 1852. Coming from duties at Teaninich distillery Scott was known as an agriculturalist, cattle breeder and entrepreneur. His generosity included the gifting of a hall for the use of the local community. Under his guidance the 1850s saw major rebuilding and enlarging at the distillery and many of today’s buildings date from this refit. By 1860 Scott was joined by an Alexander Ross, their partnership lasting until 1878. Around this era it is said that Glendronach was the largest duty paying distillery in the Highlands with more than 50 people living close to the site. From 1881 Scott was the sole proprietor, he passed away in 1886.
From this date the distillery operated under the control of Glendronach Distillery Company being leased to John Sommerville and McCallum a combine of two Edinburgh wine merchants and a Campbeltown distiller based at 45 Quality Street, Leith. This situation continued until 1914 after which the distillery was acquired by the crown in 1916 at which point production ceased.
For the next episode in the Glendronach saga we turn to the Grant’s of Glenfiddich. When William Grant left his managerial position at Mortlach distillery, bought second hand stills from Cardhu and started to build by hand his own distillery he had his family to help with the labour. The youngest of 5 sons Captain Charles Grant (b. 1872) worked as the tunman at Glenfiddich later he was first the manager at Glenfiddich and subsequently the company’s sister distillery Balvenie. He bought the silent Glendronach along with the whole estate at auction from the Crown for £9,000 in February 1920. Three months later it was once again operating. Charles had served in the Gordon Highlanders during WW1 and perhaps it was injuries suffered in the conflict that led to his early death at 54 in August 1926. During his tenure he oversaw many improvements reshaping a great deal of the distillery. He also bottled the make as a single malt but later changed this tact to concentrate on four blends: Glen Dronach Liqueur, Old Vatted Glendronach, Sir Walter and Huntly Royal.
Moving forward to 1960 we see the distillery once again changing hands when it is sold by George Grey Grant to William Teacher Ltd. Once again the 1000 acre farm was in the deal including a herd of highland cattle. The long established family owned company had marketed their eponymous brand ‘Teachers Highland Cream’ since 1884 enjoying successful export trade almost straight away. Until 1976 they were the largest whisky company still in the hands of the founding family. In the mid 19th century they were the biggest single licence holder in Glasgow owning 18 ‘dram shops’ moving into blending and wholesaling around this period. By the 1890s it was necessary for the company to build its own distillery, Ardmore – 16 miles from Glendronach, in order to guarantee fillings for its brands. Helping with the new distillery was James Innes from Glendronach. Perhaps this was the first time the two companies connected or maybe this was just a sign of an existing relationship. Come 1923 the Teachers had become a private limited company having survived the first world war with some enviable stocks due to some strict self rationing. By 1949 the company was public. At its height Teachers was the second best selling brand in the UK commanding 16% of the domestic market with 55% of stock being sold at home the rest exported. At the time of their purchase of Glendronach they also invested in a new, large and modern blending and bottling plant at Craig Park in Glasgow. Also at the point of the takeover it was decided to drop the suffix ‘-Glenlivet’ from the distillery and brand, perhaps a mark of the confidence in the provenance of the distillery. In order to bankroll the distillery purchase there was an issue of 150,000 shares and the last of the dram shops were sold. Around this time a large portion of stock was swapped with DCL for grain via the broker Stanley P. Morrison while the blends previously mentioned were withdrawn.
By 1966 it was time for a restructuring and increase in capacity. A list of improvements runs to: the two original stills were joined by a pair of new pots, a new still house being constructed to a contemporary design straddling the Dronac burn and occupying the site of the old mash house, a new filling store, automatic coal stokers for the firing of the stills, a new mash tun in a new mash house on the site of the reconstructed and extended old still room which Alfred Barnard had identified in 1887 as being the oldest part of the distillery – perhaps this part of the buildings survived the fire of 1837, malt storage space increased, a new mill room, new yeast room, toilets, showers and changing rooms, 3 new wash backs of six thousand gallons brought the total to seven, a new warehouse capable of storing 6,800 butts/puncheons. One piece of equipment which didn’t require improvement was the reliable Porteus will used in the production of grist for the mash tun. The new distillery was opened on the fourteenth of December 1967. Later a pig sty, farm sheds and outhouses were converted for hospitality use. By 1969 confidence was high enough to restart the bottling of Glendronach as a single with some 8yo becoming available on the export market. At its peak Glendronach was the fifth best selling single malt in the world. From the re-opening for the next thirty odd years the management of Glendronach and Ardmore was split between Mr Massie and Ronnie Mennie.
It is interesting to note that as with the new sister distillery at Ardmore Glendronach’s stills remained coal fired until April 2005 when E.U. regulations prevented continuation of this traditional practice. After a six month shut down to convert to steam heating the distillery returned to work in September. Throughout the industry the dirty, dangerous and difficult to control direct firing of stills by coal had gradually been replaced with the cleaner, safer and more easily controlled internal heating method via a boiler producing steam or in a very few examples a live gas flame: although harder for the shift worker to cook his bacon and eggs on a shovel! However it would appear the more traditional method seemed to be considered too much a part of the fabric of the Allied products that they were ultimately the last distilleries in Scotland to use this method. Maybe the action of the rummager within the wash still preventing the burning of solids on the hot copper from the live flame meant the continually brushed and exposed metal added a certain benefit to the spirit. Another perhaps surprising practice maintained at Forgue was the continuation of hand malting. Latterly 15% of the required barley, equating to about 10 tons a week, was prepared on the floors via the kiln with its curious oblong pagoda, once again was there a belief that the contribution from the more labour intensive alternative left its mark on the finished result? Another production detail keeping a link to past practices is the use of Oregon pine in construction of the 9 wash backs. Many distillers feel the easy cleaning and longevity of stainless steel is more helpful than any potential benefit from wooden fermenters. But for some the tried and tested method of using mother nature’s materials with the many qualities of wood such as its insulating properties to lend a relatively consistent temperature throughout the year is just too tempting. Likewise the absence of an up to date Lauter mash tun and the retention of the relatively small rake and plough tun with its copper canopy fits in well with the other old school processes. Turning to the stills one aspect which didn’t survive the occasional upgrades were the worm tubs. When exactly these were replaced with the more modern shell and tube variety is not clear but it is perhaps surprising that what can be such a full bodied dram as Glendronach doesn’t owe a proportion of its weight to the stage at which spirit vapour is converted back to liquid. When vapour is more rapidly returned to liquid and hence does not enjoy prolonged exposure to cleansing copper it can be expected the resulting spirit will have a more robust nature, such is the case with quickly condensing worms, the opposite being true of the shell and tube method. Another feature of the equipment is the presence of a boil ball on all four stills. This chamber at the base of the still necks acts as promoter of reflux – where heavier and less volatile alcohols find progress up the still neck delayed by a slight drop in temperature within the ball. Perhaps the fuller body of Glendronach spirit may be thanks to the relatively steep angle of the lyne arm on the wash stills. At 45 degrees any vapour drifting to the top of the still will have little chance to recycle downwards back into the still body to be redistilled, an action which would encourage a lighter spirit, rather the spirit vapour would easily tip over the balancing point at the top of the still neck and find its way down the condenser keeping more of its heavier elements. The spirit stills have a more modest 20 degree incline and are typically filled with a 6KL charge. Combine this with a relatively slow distillation then altogether the spirit can be considered as one of the more thoughtfully produced in Scotland today. Yet another time served influence apparent at Glendronach is the preference for maturation in ex-sherry cask over ex-Bourbon wood. At one time most all Scottish whisky would have been matured in a cask which originally contained European wine fortified or not. Strong trade with, particularly France, but also Spain and Portugal would have seen many importers of Claret, Sherry and Port. Scottish ports took delivery from quality vinyards and houses where the respect for the maturation qualities of fine European oak ultimately benefited the whisky producer as Scottish oak might be good for ship building but fell short of suitable for nurturing the national drink. Typically a whisky left in a European oak ex-sherry cask will become full bodied and rich often with notes of raisins, nuts and cocoa. However with a downturn in sherry consumption, the requirement for sherry to be shipped in bottles from Spain and the option of high volumes of much more affordable ex-Bourbon American white oak casks les than 10% of Scotch whisky is now matured in old sherry casks. It appears if the cost and effort of acquiring such casks is what is necessary to make the best Glendronach then happily company accountants have for the most part been persuaded by the whisky makers. Having said that a relatively recent period saw the policy shift to nearly exclusively ex-Bourbon filling. This led to the current owner’s policy of sourcing enough sherry casks to re-rack approximately half the 9,000 casks acquired at the point of purchase of the distillery into fresh oloroso casks. The program is set to cost seven figures and take 3 years to complete while an ongoing policy of filling new spirit into sherry casks will further add to the budget required to fill as many as possible of the potentially 45,000 cask the three dunnage and three racked warehouses on site can accommodate into sherry wood.
Returning to the ascendancy of ownership of Glendronach, 1976 saw a significant development. Seeking better financial stability Teachers approached Allied Breweries and a take-over was agreed. This was also the year that saw an early example of a distillery visitor centre opening, a feature which has remained at Glendronach even during periods of closure. During this time Glendronach was second only in sales to Laphroaig within the Allied portfolio of malts which also included Scapa, Tormore and Miltonduff. The subsequent sale, on 26th July 2005, of the then current incarnation of Allied, Allied-Domecq, saw Beam/Fortune Brands acquire Teachers and Ardmore while Pernod/Chivas took over Glendronach. Chivas Regal and Ballantines were now sister brands alongside the second biggest collection of malt distilleries after Diageo.
Coming up to date the current chapter in the history of Glendronach is being written by Billy Walker and his team. Ex-operations director for Burn Stewart. Billy had known his now partners, Geoff Bell and Wayne Kieswetter, since the 1980s when the South Africans were buying whisky from Burn Stewart for their blending operations in South Africa. The pair were also heavily involved in shipping, trucking and electricity supply as well as being agents for Diageo and Chivas. Although initially concerned with securing significant volume supplies when Benriach was acquired from Pernod in 2004 interest was peaked in the quality and diversity of stock purchased alongside the distillery. Encouraged by the success of the re-launched Benriach the company went on to purchase another Chivas distillery, Glen Dronach, in July 2008, at the time Chivas‘s smallest plant. Having been carefully mothballed the equipment needed minimum work before being put back into use. By April 2004 the company was ready to release its first expression from their new acquisition – a 12yo. A target of 150,000 bottle sales in the remainder of the year proved more than realistic as ultimately twice this number was achieved. By July 2010 an extension to the range saw four ‘finishes’ join the 12yo, 15yo “Revival” and 18yo “Allardice“ (all Pedro Ximinez or Oloroso matured), these were, Sauternes, virgin oak, both at 14yo as well as Moscatel and Tawny Port. Although Benriach had been a bottled product before Walker et al took over it was far from as established as Glendronach so the new owners were able to take advantage of a well grounded and fine reputation. Also a deal to supply blending stock to Pernod also meant the future demand levels were reassuring.
Currently managing production is Alan McConnochie, former positions held by Allan include White Horse and Long John bottling plants, roles at Laphroaig, Ben Nevis, Bunnahabhain and Tobermory. He joins a distinguished list of distillers dating way back to the 1820s and John Bulloch Jnr the son of the founder of Duntocher distillery who later moved to Glen Ury distillery to be in charge of distilling. Another former manager of Glendronach was John Duff, later to establish Glen Lossie in 1876.
Rummager : a copper mesh rotated within the still to remove any material from the internal pot surface which may be burned due to the high temperatures experienced by the copper due to direct firing by live flame.
Worms : a coiled copper pipe with diminishing diameter through which passes spirit vapour from the lyne arm leading from the top of the still neck. The pipe is immersed in cold running water within a tub to encourage a drop in temperature of the gasses in order to condense swiftly.
Reflux : the condensing and subsequent return to vapour of spirit within the still. Actively promoting reflux will create a lighter spirit, the heavier compounds being gradually broken down into lighter components. Avoiding reflux produces a more robust spirit.
