Strathclyde

Strathclyde is a Scottish grain whisky distillery in the city of Glasgow. It stands on the south bank of the River Clyde in an area known as the Gorbals.

When Port Dundas closed in 2010, Strathclyde was the only operational distillery left in Glasgow. Even today, it is the only one of the city's distilleries to produce grain whisky.

The distillery is owned by Pernod Ricard.     

Strathclyde’s mature grain whisky is soft and creamy with vanilla, toffee, coconut and citrus notes.      

The distillery draws its water from Loch Katrine in the Trossachs. The loch acts as the main water supply for the whole city.

Strathclyde whisky is predominantly made from unpeated wheat. 

Spirit is produced using twin Coffey stills. The first column, known as the analyser, works by feeding fermented wash, into the top of the column. As the wash descends it meets steam flowing up from the base and converts to vapour. The vapour rises and is condensed before being fed into the second still, or rectifier. The alcohol circulates until it can be collected at the desired strength.

There are seven stills in total. Two are used for making whisky. The other five produce grain neutral spirit (GNS) for use in other spirits.

The majority of the grain whisky is matured in ex-bourbon whiskey hogsheads and barrels. However, a small number of sherry butts are also filled.

Single grain releases are rare. Pernod has a 12-year-old offering in the Chivas Distillery Reserve Collection. However, independent bottlers like Douglas Laing, Berry Bros & Rudd and the Scotch Malt Whisky Society have released single cask versions.

Strathclyde’s whisky contributes to blended Scotch brands like Ballantine’s, Chivas Regal and Royal Salute.

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the distillery shifted production to make spirit for hand sanitiser.

Strathclyde also produced a malt whisky known as Kinclaith, between 1958 and 1975.

Today the distillery can produce around 40,000,000 litres per year.    

The Strathclyde name comes from the old council region that incorporated the city of Glasgow. Prior to that, it was an ancient Kingdom that covered much of southwest Scotland.

The distillery was founded by London gin distiller Seager Evans in 1927. It was originally designed to produce Grain Neutral Spirit but began distilling grain whisky when Seager purchased the Long John blended Scotch brand in 1936.

The whisky arm of the business soon became known as Long John Distillers and was sold to Schenley Industries of New York in 1956.

Schenley installed a set of pot stills in 1958 in order to produce malt whisky. The spirit, known as Kinclaith, was never bottled as a single malt. Instead, it was used for Long John blended Scotch. The distillery within a distillery ceased to operate when Schenley sold to Whitbread & Company Ltd in 1975. It was completely demolished in 1977.

Whitbread’s distilling business was later taken over by Allied Distillers. When Allied broke apart in 2005, Strathclyde was snapped up by Pernod Ricard, becoming the first grain distillery in the Chivas Brothers stable.