The Glenturret

Glenturret markets itself as 'the oldest distillery in Scotland', but as is often the case with such dramatic claims, the actual facts about when the distillery was founded are a little vague. There is no doubt that the stretch of land on which Glenturret sits in the Midlands of Scotland has been a site of legal and illicit distillation dating back to the eighteenth century. In 1775, the Hosh Distillery, an illicit operation, was founded by a group of whisky smugglers. In 1818, the operation went legitimate, and John Drummond, who headed the operation, became the license holder. In 1826, another, smaller distillery was established on the site under the name of 'Glenturret', but was decommissioned in 1852. In 1875, the original Hosh distillery took the name of Glenturret, under the stewardship of Thomas Stewart. In 1903, the Mitchell Brothers Ltd acquired the site and continued to oversee production until 1921, at which point the company decided to cease production, and the site was used for storage only. In 1929, the Mitchell Brothers were liquidated, and the Glenturret distillery was dismantled, with the facilities being taken over by a local farmer to store his agricultural equipment. After laying silent for thirty years, production restarted in 1959 after James Fairlie bought the site. The site continued to swap hands into the late twentieth century, with Rémy-Cointreau purchasing the distillery in 1981, and Highland Distillers taking over in 1990. Today, the distillery is owned by the Erdington Group, who acquired Highland Distillers in 1992 to the tune of a staggering GBP 601 million. As we move into the twenty-first century, Glenturret has reduced it's number of bottles to just one. The 10 years-old.