Location and contact details
Location: Glen Garioch Distillery, Distillery Road, Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, AB51 0ES
Visit Type: Vistor Centre
Co-ordinates: 57.338348, -2.317213
Telephone: +44 (0) 1651 873 450 
Email: visitor.centre[at]glengarioch.com
Web: http://www.glengarioch.com/ 
Twitter: Glen Garioch (@GlenGarioch)Facts and figures
| Location | Glen Garioch Distillery, Distillery Road, Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, AB51 0ES |
| Founded | 1797 |
| Owner | Beam Suntory |
| Water Source | The Silent Spring of Coutens Farm |
| Stills | 2 wash stills (20,000 and 10,000 litres 2 spirit stills (11,000 litres) |
Opening Hours
Open Monday to Saturday throughout the year (1000 to 1630), and on Sundays between July to September (1200 to 1630); check for details of opening hours and tour times.
Tours
Founders Tour
£8
The perfect introduction to our Award Winning Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky. This unique distillery tour experience celebrates the Manson brothers who first established the distillery and the 220 years of craftsmanship that goes into every bottle that bears the Manson name.
This 1 hour long tour includes a dram of our Founder’s Reserve.
Monday to Saturday - 10.30am and 1.00pm
Sunday (June to September) - 1.00pm
Wee Tasting Tour
£17.50
Many generations going back in time have long handcrafted the spirit. Discover the personality and character, both of the whisky and those who create it. This in-depth tour experience explores the secrets passed on from Stillman to Stillman, all in the pursuit of quality. Finally, sample some of the small-batch whiskies, a taste of the distilleries legacy. Tour includes three drams. Over 18 only.
A Rare Pair
£45
This 1 hour tasting experience will include whiskies from the Glen Garioch portfolio paired alongside Scottish cheeses and chutneys. Why not complete your visit by joining the Founders Tour prior this tasting? Monday to Saturday - 2pm. Please let them know if you have any dietary requirements that we need to consider. Over 18s only. Please book one week in advance. Minimum 2 guests for this experience.
Review: Masters of Distillery Road (19:27 on 24/09/2019)
Price: £17.50
Glen Garioch is in the centre of town with very narrow streets. There is parking at the distillery. As I drove to the distillery in a car, I had no problem, but on the first visit we were in a mirror home and had to ask a couple of people if they could move their cars.
Tour started with five people, but when in man room five more joined. This meant the tour was delayed as the guide then recovered the mashing for three of them and then again for the other two who had been stood on the stairs taking to the woman who brought them through.
The tour was covered well with the history of Glen Garioch briefly outlines before you go though the distillery hearing all the stages in the process.
Photography without flash was allowed throughout with the guide checking alcohol levels in the air in the stillhouse and warehouse before pohots could be taken in these areas. We saw the working Porteus mill (working in that it was milling barley at the time); surprisingly, bearing in mind how explosive flour is, there were no checks or restrictions on photography here. I've been to a few distilleries where they won't allow anyone into the mill room when milling is in progress.
As part of the tour you see the an old malting floow, not used since the 1990s, which still had some old equipment to see.
I can't decide if the tasting was well organised or not. They had sample bottles for the drivers, but these were already filled and sealed.
A tasting glass of the first was passed around the drivers to nose, but with five drivers, this took a while. Subsequent samples were missed from the bottle which gives you a limited range.
Most distilleries serve the whisky in a glass and allow you to decant it into the small bottle yourself. The approach taken does mean that drivers miss out on the nosing.
The three samples at the end of the tour were:
- Glen Garioch Virgin Oak Single Malt Scotch Whisky
- Glen Garioch The Renaissance Chapter 2 Single Malt 16 Year Old Scotch Whisky
- Glen Garioch The Renaissance Chapter 3 Single Malt 17 Year Old Scotch Whisky
The tour was good, albeit with a few organisational issues.
History
Glen Garioch distillery (pronounced "Geery" in the Doric dialect of Aberdeen), is one of the oldest whisky distilleries in Scotland, dating back to 1797.
The location chosen by John & Alexander Manson for their malt whisky distillery in 1797 was an obvious one. Oldmeldrum in the celebrated 'Valley of the Garioch' was named "The Granary of Aberdeenshire", famous for producing the finest barley in all of Scotland.
The distillery, which originally incorporated a brewery and tannery, stands on the very edge of the town Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire. The Garioch — pronounced 'Geery' — is a tract of richly fertile land, some 150 square miles (390 km2) in extent. The location is known as ‘the granary of Aberdeenshire’, where barley and crystal springs have been abundant for over a thousand years, so it is not surprising that Glen Garioch Distillery was established as early as 1794 — one of the oldest operating distilleries in Scotland.
In 1968 the production of Glen Garioch was suspended on account of 'chronic water shortages', however in 1972 a manager was appointed with a brief to find another water source. A spring was discovered on a neighbouring farm. It came to be called ‘The Silent Spring’ as it could neither be seen nor heard.
Leading with the 1797 Founders Reserve at the heart of the range, Glen Garioch will periodically release hand selected individual batches of stock at the peak of their perfection, aiming to demonstrate the quality and breadth of the Glen Garioch spirit. Launched as ‘Single Batch Releases’, the first will be the Glen Garioch 1990 Vintage and the Glen Garioch 1978 Vintage which will join the 1797 Founders Reserve.
It is operated by Morrison Bowmore Distillers, which is owned by the Japanese company Suntory.
