Glen Garioch Distillery
Old Meldrum,
Aberdeenshire AB51 0ES
+44 1651 872 706
Owner: Morrison Bowmore Distillers Ltd
Creation date: 1797
According to an article in "The Aberdeen Journal", the first distillation at Glen Garioch should have happened as soon as 1785.
However, other sources say that the distillery was build in 1798. The founder is Thomas Simpson who kept the distillery for 30 years, before selling it to Ingram, Lamb & Co who kept Glen Garioch from 1827 until 1834...
John Manson acquired it in 1837. The same John Manson was the owner of the Strathmeldrum distillery, which has disappeared in the meanwhile. The distillery remained his property until he sold it in 1884 to J.G. Thomson & Co, whose manager William Sanderson was the creator of Vat69. In those days, the malt from Glen Garioch was part of VAT69.
Recent research (led by Andrew Jones in 2004 for the distillery) state that the birth of the distillery was in 1794, and further pretend that the builders of the distillery were Alexander and John Manson. Where is the truth...? Historic research about more than 200 years ole facts are rather difficult to conduct, and results are ofteh led by historical interpretations...
J.G. Thomas worked together with Booth's Distilleries Ltd from 1933, and both were taken over by SMD in 1937. SMD, a subsidiary company of DCL closed Glen Garioch in 1968, together with Oban and Glenlochy.
The distillery reopened after its acquisition by Stanley P. Morrison, who decided to buy a famous distillery in each of the Scotch whisky production areas.
Alteration works occurred in 1971 and the distillery doubled the number of its stills. Stanley P. Morisson became Morisson Bowmore in 1982. The group became later subsidiary for 100% of the Japanese Suntory. The group decided to close Glen Garioch in 1994 and to sell it.
As they could find no buyer, and because of the growing demand on the market, they reopened the distillery in 1997.
The major part of the production is used in the blends of the Morisson Bowmore company, like Rob Roy.