Royal Lochnagar

Royal Lochnagar is a small single malt distillery in Highlands, Scotland. It is named after Lochnagar mountain and boasts Balmoral Castle, the Summer residence of the British Royal family, as its closest neighbour. The distillery is one of a handful to hold a Royal Warrant and is the smallest of Diageo's single malt distilleries. Much of Lochnagar's spirit is used within Johnnie Walker and other popular Scotch blends, but its single malt whiskies are highly regarded.

Royal Lochnagar is known for its soft, gentle and fruity style with underlying malted cereal notes. Green apple, pear and dried fruits are evident, alongside butterscotch and warming oak spice.

The majority of Royal Lochnagar is used in the blended Johnnie Walker Black Label, with older stock going towards Blue Label. Distillery bottlings consist of the core range 12 years old and Select Reserve. In addition, there are limited editions from time to time. Recent examples include House Baratheon and The Spring Stallion 16 years old. These are part of Diageo's Games of Thrones and Special Releases 2021 collections respectively.

Royal Lochnagar is a small and traditional distillery with much of the production carried out by hand. It is one of the few distilleries in Scotland to have an open mash tun. This is made of stainless steel and has a 5.4 tonne capacity. They operate four mashes per week.

There are two wooden washbacks. Unusually, the fermentation time between 68 and 105 hours is flexible depending on the time of year and style of spirit required. The longer times creating more fruity characteristics.

The single pair of stills are small and onion-shaped. Both used an exterior cast iron worm tub for condensing. This sees a long spiralled tube running from each still and down through cold water held in the worm tub.

Most of the spirit produced is matured in European oak ex-Oloroso sherry butts. However, other cask types are used - mostly ex-bourbon whiskey casks, Port and other sherries.

The annual capacity of Royal Lochnagar is 500,000 litres. It is also the only one of Diageo's distilleries where cask filling is completed on site. Each week 35 are filled.

The distillery was founded in 1845 by John Begg and named New Lochnagar. It was located on the southern bank of the River Dee near the Highland town of Ballater. The name was due to the previous Lochnagar distillery, on the northern bank of the river, being destroyed by fire in 1841.

Shortly after opening the distillery received its Royal Warrant. This followed a visit from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who were staying at nearby Balmoral Castle. This allowed the name change to Royal Lochnagar. The distillery stayed in the Begg family until 1916, being managed by John's son and then his grandchildren.

The latter sold Royal Lochnagar to John Dewar & Sons. They wanted to purchase it due to the popularity of its malts amongst blenders. In 1926 they became part of Distillers Company Limited. In turn, it would eventually evolve over time and through various amalgamations to become Diageo, who remains the current owner. It is the largest producer of Scotch whisky in the world.