Glengoyne

Glengoyne is a Scottish single malt distillery that sits astride the Highland Line. This imaginary boundary separates the Highlands from the Lowlands. The distillery is located in the Highlands and the warehouses in the Lowlands. A road runs between them - the A81 from Glasgow to Aberfoyle. This Scotch brand has grown to be a highly regarded single malt with an extensive core range, numerous limited editions and an impressive set of medals from worldwide awards.

Glengoyne has a distinct malty and fruity character with an estery and creamy mouthfeel. This is created by their slow distillation process. Notes of cereals, ripe apples, honey and milk chocolate are often detected, along with a hint of earthiness. They use both American and European oak casks for maturation, with the majority seasoned with Oloroso sherry. Other cask types such as Pedro Ximenez sherry are occasionally used. Of course, they also use classic ex-bourbon whiskey casks.

The core range consists of age statements at 10, 12, 18, 21 and 25 years old, plus the batched no age statement Cask Strength. Limited edition cult favourite malts include small batch releases such as the Glengoyne Legacy series and The Teapot Dram.

Glengoyne has a 3.8 tonne mash tun in which milled barley is mixed with warm water to extract natural sugars and enzymes. They operate 16 mashes per week. There are six wooden washbacks made of Oregon pine. They run both short and long fermentation times with batches then combined for consistency. These are 56 and 110 hours respectively. This is said to contribute to the fruity character of the spirit. Water for production is drawn from the Glengoyne Burn. This runs through the distillery and eventually flows into Loch Lomond.

Glengoyne has an unusual combination of one wash still and two spirit stills. Most distilleries in Scotland have the configuration where stills work together in pairs. These stills are set for a slow distillation, which is said to be the slowest in the Scotch whisky industry. This aids the creation of esters in the spirit - a point heavily used in their marketing. The annual capacity is 1.1 million litres.

Glengoyne was founded in 1833 by George Connell, although an illicit still is said to have been operating on the same site since the late 1700s. It was originally known as Burnfoot and located in the tiny village of Dumgoyne to the north of Glasgow and south of Loch Lomond.  In 1876 the distillery was sold to Lang Brothers from Glasgow. They renamed it as Glenguin, which translates as 'valley of the wild geese' from Gaelic. Glengoyne, the anglicised version of Glenguin, first appeared in 1905.

In 1965 Lang Brothers sold Glengoyne to Robertson & Baxter, who would later evolve to become the Edrington Group. They would maintain ownership into the 21st century. They were also the ones who introduced the extra still and the practice of super slow distillation after they took over in the 1960s. Iain Macleod Distillers, the current owners, purchased Glengoyne in 2003. They also own the Tamdhu distillery in Speyside and Rosebank in the Lowlands, which is currently being rebuilt after closing in the 1990s.

Glengoyne's visitor centre is a popular destination due to its proximity to Glasgow and the famous West Highland Way, which passes next to the distillery. They welcome 35,000 visitors per year for tours and tastings.