Overview
The Glenglassaugh distillery is a malt scotch whisky distillery which restarted production in November 2008 after being acquired by an independent investment group. Following a complete refurbishment by the new owners the distillery was re-opened on 24 November 2008 by the First Minister for Scotland Alex Salmond.
Location and contact details
Location: Glenglassaugh Distillery, Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, AB45 2SQ, Scotland
Visit Type: Vistor Centre
Co-ordinates: 57.679218, -2.738100
Telephone: +44 (0)131 335 5135
Email: info@glenglassaugh.com
Web: https://www.glenglassaugh.com/ 
Twitter: Glenglassaugh (@glenglassaugh)Facts and figures
| Location | Aberdeenshire |
| Founded | 1875 |
| Founder | Col. James Moir |
| Owner | Brown-Forman |
| Stills | 1 wash still and 1 spirit still. |
Opening Hours
January to December
Mon to Friday: 10.00am - 4.00pm
Tours
Revival Tour
£5
Join them on a tour of our distillery, sitting on the crescent beach of Sandend Bay, where you will gain an insight into how Glenglassaugh was brought back to life in 2008. Your guide will take you through the whisky making process,where you will discover the influence the unique location has on the whisky. After viewing the casks in the coastal warehouses enjoy a dram of Revival.
To discover more of the Glenglassaugh range, you can add on an additional tasting flight for £15, trying the Evolution and Torfa whiskies along with the current distillery exclusive selected by the Distillery Manager, Alan McConnochie.
Review: Revival Tour (13:00 on 30/09/2019)
Price: £5
I booked the tour of Glenglassaugh online, an improvement over when I visited a few years ago and had to ring up a number of times before I managed to get through to reserve our places.
There were three of us on the tour which started on time. The tour guide was knowledgeable and gave good clear explanations of the history and processes.
The tour starts in the visitor centre with a brief history of the distillery, including the mothballing in the 1980s and the ownership changes through the years.
The tour included a view of the mill, an old Porteus with wooded hopper and storage box. The still house was rebuilt in the 1960s so looks a little out of place amongst the older dunnage warehouses surrounding it, and is of an odd layout. When you enter the stills are directly in front of you, so we headed to the right into another room were the old Porteus mash tun is located; after this we moved past the stills to the other side of the building to where the wash backs are.
There are six wash backs, two metal and four wooden. The viewing is from an unusual vantage point as you are usually stood on a floor near the tops of them so the washbacks appear to be waist high with much of there sie below floor level.
At Glenglassaugh, you are stood below the wash backs so you're looking up at the bottom of the floor most distilleries would have you standing upon. We then moved back itno the mains till room to see the copper pot stills and spirit safe. At each stage the process was well explained by the guide.
We then left the still house and took a look at one of the dunnage warehouses where the type of casks was discussed.
Photography was allowed only outside of the buildings, although I did get to take a couple of photographs from the door of the still house looking in towards them.
On the standard tour there is one tasting of the Glenglassaugh Revival Malt Scotch Whisky.
You can pay an etra £15 for an extra three samples:
- Glenglassaugh Evolution Malt Scotch Whisky.
- Glenglassaugh Peated Torfa Malt Scotch Whisky.
- The managers cask special which will vary though time and is only avaiable at the distillery.
The guide was very good and explained the process well; this was a very good tour.
History
The Glenglassaugh Distillery is a single malt Scotch whisky distillery located in a picturesque site just outside the Speyside region in Northeast Scotland, close to the small town of Portsoy, Banffshire some 54 miles Northwest of Aberdeen. The Distillery was established in 1875 by a local entrepreneur James Moir and his two nephews, Alexander and William Morrison. James Moir had an expanding grocery business in the town of Portsoy and was wanting to establish a distillery that would produce a whisky of the highest quality to satisfy the growing demand from his customers. The site was originally chosen due to its proximity to a clean and pure water supply (Glassaugh Springs), easy access to the nearby barley fields and because it was known locally to have been the site of one of the many illicit distilleries that had operated in the area and which had produced excellent whisky. Following the death of both James Moir and William Morrison, Alexander Morrison was forced to sell the distillery and in 1892 the company was sold to Highland Distillers and until 2008 has been owned by them. Highland Distillers are a subsidiary of The Edrington Group.
In 1960 it was rebuilt and upgraded to double the production capacity and to yield lighter spirit. However, in 1986, when the whole whisky industry was reviewing operations the economics of running this relatively small and remote distillery, the owners decided that they should stop production. Around this time, Glenglassaugh was sold to the Edrington Group. The whisky from this distillery had traditionally been used in the production of blended whiskies such as Cutty Sark, Laing's, and The Famous Grouse.
In 2008, Glenglassaugh was purchased by the Scaent Group. Under new ownership, it released some the pre-1986 stock as exclusive Highland Single Malt Scotch Whiskies with outstanding success. At the 2009 International Wine and Spirit Competition Awards the 30 Year Old expression was awarded a Gold Medal (Best in Class) and the trophy for Best Cask Strength Scotch Whisky and the 40 Year Old was awarded Gold Medal (Best in Class) and the trophy for Best 40 Year Old Scotch Whisky. The 40 year old was also awarded Best 40 Year Old Scotch Whisky and 96 points in Jim Murray's 2010 Whisky Bible.
Upon purchase, Scaent refurbished the mothballed distillery and restarted production. In 2009 the company also introduced 2 new innovative products which are produced using the same process as that used for making single malt scotch whisky but without the ageing process. "The Spirit Drink that dare not speak its name" is the result of 1 mash of malted barley, fermented and distilled twice. The product is bottled without ageing at 50% abv.
"The Spirit Drink that blushes to speak its name" is also produced in the same way but is allowed to age for 6 months in casks that have previously held red wine. The result is a spirit with a rich rose hue and a flavour of soft fruits and spices and is ideal as a cocktail base or for making long drinks.
On 16 December 2011 the first bottling of Glenglassaugh whisky from spirit distilled under the present ownership was bottled and released for sale only from the distillery shop.
In March 2013, The Benriach Distillery Company acquired the Glenglassaugh distillery from its previous owners, who were listed as Amsterdam-based Lumiere Holdings. Benriach Distillery company also operates the Benriach and Glendronach Distilleries.
In 2016, The Benriach Distillery and its three distilleries were acquired by Brown-Forman.
