Glen Scotia Distillery
Whisky distillers, 12 High Street, Campbeltown
1832 The distillery, which for its first hundred years was known simply as Scotia, was established by James Stewart and John Galbraith, trading as Stewart, Galbraith and Co. At the time of Alfred Barnard's visit, he noted the annual output as 85,000 gallons.[1]
1891 The distillery was acquired by the newly incorporated company of Stewart, Galbraith and Co Limited, as was the Glen Nevis Distillery.[2]
1897 The distillery was comprehensively rebuilt.
1919 West Highland Malt Distilleries Limited was incorporated and Scotia was one of six Campbeltown distilleries acquired in an attempt to rationalise the industry locally.
1923 West Highland Malt Distilleries Limited went into voluntary liquidation. Scotia was bought by Duncan MacCallum and was the only one of the six distilleries to survive the depression.
1930 At the age of 83, MacCallum was found drowned in Crosshill Loch, the reservoir for the town's distilleries. This tragedy and its unexplained nature is the background to the story that MacCallum's ghost haunts the distillery.
1933 MacCallum's trustees sold the distillery to Bloch Brothers of Glasgow. The Blochs were also the purchasers of Scapa Distillery in Orkney and Glengyle Distillery in Campbeltown, though they were never able to bring the latter back into production. It was the Blochs who decided to change the distillery name to Glen Scotia.
1954 The distillery was sold to the Canadian-owned Hiram Walker, passing under the control of Glasgow-based whisky blender A. Gillies and Company the following year.
1970 Amalgamated Distilled Products took over Gillies and thus Glen Scotia.
1984 During a downturn in the whisky industry, the distillery was mothballed for five years.
1989 The distillery was re-opened by Gibson International, who acquired the Littlemill Distillery, Bowling at the same time.
1994 Glen Scotia was acquired by Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouse Limited.
2014 The distillery became part of the Loch Lomond Group.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Pigot and Co.'s National Commercial Directory of the whole of Scotland and of The Isle of Man 1837
- National Records of Scotland BT2/2211 (Stewart, Galbraith and Company Limited)
- National Records of Scotland BT2/10745 (West Highland Malt Distilleries Limited)
- Edinburgh Gazette 20 November 1923
- David Stirk, The Distilleries of Campbeltown: The Rise and Fall of the Whisky Capital of the World (2019)
- Angus Martin "Campbeltown Whisky: An Encyclopaedia" (2020)
- https://scotchwhisky.com/whiskypedia/1848/glen-scotia/
- https://www.glenscotia.com/history/