Glengoyne Distillery

What would be the point of a visit to Glasgow with a side trip to the mother ship of whisky? I walked over to the Buchanan Bus station and purchased a return ticket to Dumgoyne on the B10 bus. An hour later riding up the A81, Bob's your uncle! I'm standing looking at the water once used to make the Glengoyne whisky but is now the cooling water for the various vats.



Glengoyne is the southernmost highland distillery for the A81 out front is the dividing line between the highlands and the lowlands. In fact, it is the only whisky distilled in the highlands and aged (across the road) in the lowlands.

Inside, I saw the large copper stills that are used to slowly distil the brew. It is done at a relatively low temperature so it goes more slowly that most (all?). They are proud of the way things are still done in the traditional method here. Slow process done by hand. No automation. Just hand valves and people who know what they are doing.

The place is quite small. There is another room next door where the mash is heated and the yeast is added. It is even smaller than this room. The process goes around the clock in three shifts.

The really important stock in this original building for storage. Some of these barrels are american white oak, some are european red oak, some have been used to first age sherry in Spain (oloroso), and some have not. Some are in their first usage for whisky and some are second-timers. Whisky from each of these kinds/histories of barrel are mixed in the right proportion to produce each of the various ages of whisky sold. The malt master is the fellow that determines this mix. It all comes down to this one fellow to determine how to make the whisky that everyone is going to like.

My tour ended with me sitting in front of a selection of 5 differently aged bottles of whisky. My task as the "malt master" is to create what I like the best. So I sat and poured and sipped for about 40 minutes while I created a 200 ml bottle of of my choice. If you stop by for a visit and you are really nice, I might...maybe...let you taste a wee dram.