Location and contact details
Location: Royal Lochnagar Distillery, Crathie, Ballater, Aberdeenshire, AB35 5TB
Visit Type: Vistor Centre
Co-ordinates: 57.034393, -3.218965
Telephone: +44 (0) 13397 42700
Web: https://www.discovering-distilleries.com/royallochnagar/ 
Twitter: DiscoverDistilleries (@12distilleries)Facts and figures
| Location | Aberdeenshire |
| Founded | 1826 |
| Owner | Diageo |
| Water Source | Springs in the hills of Lochnagar |
| Stills | 1 wash still 1 spirit still |
Opening Hours
Opening hours vary through the year; check for details of opening hours; tours run on the hour, every hour.
Tours
Royal Lochnagar Distillery Tour
£9
Neighbouring Balmoral Castle, Royal Lochnagar is the perfect place to discover how Scotch Whisky is made. Go on a guided tour of the traditional distillery watching as the team of operators tend to the historic mashtun, gleaming copper stills and cask filling. The tour ends with a dram of the award-winning Royal Lochnagar 12 Year Old Single Malt.
Royal Lochnagar Tasting Tour
£13
Neighbouring Balmoral Castle, Royal Lochnagar is the perfect place to discover how Scotch Whisky is made. Go on a guided tour of the traditional distillery watching as the team of operators tend to the historic mashtun, gleaming copper stills and cask filling. The tour ends with a dram of the Royal Lochnagar 12 Year Old and Royal Lochnagar Distillery Only Edition, 48% and from European oak casks, and limited run of 4000 bottles.
Royal Lochnager Warehouse Experience
£25
Ideal for the seasoned distillery visitor, this unique experience covers the process of maturation and gives you the opportunity to draw samples straight from the cask in our warehouse, which you can savour and enjoy during a tutored tasting.
Royal Lochnagar Dram at the Dam
£20
A guided tour of the distillery, filling store and warehouse, followed by a short 10 minute walk up to the Top Dam, the distilleries’ water supply. Whilst there, enjoy a taste of the award-winning Royal Lochnagar 12 Year Old Single Malt and Royal Lochnagar Distillery Only Edition, 48%, from European oak casks, and a limited run of 4000 bottles. Suitable walking shoes are recommended for gentle Land Rover tracks. Should the weather be unsuitable, enjoy drams in the brand home as a comfortable alternative.
Royal Tour of the Royal Lochnagar Distillery
£40
An in-depth tour explaining how we make the whisky, hosted by one of the knowledgeable members of staff. After the tour there will be a very special tasting of Royal Lochnagar as well as a specially selected rare whisky.
Meet the Manager Tour
£150
Join the Distillery Manager as he takes you through the making of Royal Lochnagar with his vast experience from over three decades in the spirits industry. After an in-depth tour of the distillery, enjoy a taste of Royal Lochnagar and two of Sean's favourite casks from the Duty Paid Warehouse. This exclusive tour takes place every Wednesday at 2pm. Booking in advance is essential, minimum 2 people. Please contact them in advance to Meet the Manager.
Review: Royal Lochnagar Distillery Tour (19:13 on 23/09/2019)
Price: Free
Royal Lochagar is another of the Diaego Classic Malts, like ; you can book a tour online or by calling, but if you're a Friend of the Classic Malts you need to ring to book (and make sure to remember to take your journal). There is plenty of parking at Royal Lochnagar so you should have no problems parking when you visit for your tour.
When I rate distilleries, I try to rate the content and structure of the tour as well as the number of people on the tour and not the behaviour of the others on the tour, as the guests change every time and are not the distilleries fault (I'll caveat that slightly in that if they allow babies or toddlers on a tour, I will factor that into my review). I mention this as I was on a tour of twelve people; unfortunately, they were a group of eleven and not several smaller groups as the tour had been. This does seem to change behaviours when people are in a large group where they know each other, rather than several smaller grouping siwthin the large group, and has a negative effect. This meant I didn;t enjoy this tour as much as I otherwise would have.
The tour itself is quite well structured and the relevant information is dispensed well. They have the wash backs separated off into a room of them own so you can only view them through the very dirty glass. This was blamed on health ans safety, but this is the only distillery I can think of in the United Kingdom which does this.
When the milling stage was covered, we were offered the opportunity to taste two types of malted barley; peated and non-peated. The non-peated is what is used to make the Royal Lochnagar, and the peated is used at the distillery. YOu don;t see the mill they use, but there is an old Boby mill on display.
At the end of the tour before the tasting we were taken into a bonded warehouse and allowed to smell some casks containing maturing whisky (the bung is removed so you can smell the whisky within.
I did the base tour, so got to sample one whiskey which was the Royal Lochnagar 12 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky; this is a very nice whisky which is matured in second fill sherry butts.
History
Royal Lochnagar is one of Diageo's Classic Malts.
The first Lochnagar distillery was burnt down in suspicious circumstances in 1824 and a replacement again burnt down in 1841. In 1845 John Begg built the "new" Lochnagar.[1] The distillery was awarded its Royal Warrant in 1848 when John Begg invited Prince Albert to visit the distillery from the nearby Balmoral Castle, the Queen’s residence in the Highlands. The next day the distillery was visited by Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children.
Today Royal Lochnagar is owned by Diageo, and the distillery produces a relatively small amount of whisky, most of which is used in Johnnie Walker black and blue label.
