The Glenburgie 17 Year Old

Glenburgie Distillery is one of the biggest distilleries that you’ve probably never heard of. Why? Because nearly all its production is used in Ballentine’s blended whiskies; after all, it’s one of the second biggest selling Scotch whisky’s fingerprint malts. As such, every drop’s accounted for, and Glenburgie single malt releases are extraordinarily rare.

Originally known as Kilnflat Distillery, Glenburgie is located on an estate just outside of Forres in Speyside. While distillation is believed to have been taking place on the site as far back as 1810, it wasn’t until after the Excise Act of 1824 legalised whisky production that Kilnflat was officially founded in 1829 by William Paul. As was so often the case, he eventually ran into financial hardship and was forced to close the doors in 1870. All was not lost though, and Paul sublet the distillery to Charles Hay, the name was changed to Glenburgie, and production was back underway by 1878.

In 1880 the distillery was bought by Fraser and Grant, and then it was taken over by Alexander Fraser & Co in 1882. The distillery was incorporated in 1895 and was the first whisky distillery to have a female manager, Margaret Nichol. Alexander Fraser & Co went under in 1925, and Glenburgie’s doors were locked once again two years later. 

Old Smuggler blenders James & George Stodart took control in 1930, though they never fired up the stills.  In fact, it would be several more years until production would resume after a lifeline was thrown by Canada’s largest distiller Hiram Walker – Gooderham & Worts. They’d made huge profits smuggling alcohol into the USA during Prohibition and were looking to expand into Scotland. After acquiring George Ballantine and Son Ltd in 1935, they started hunting for a stable supply of quality Scotch to fulfil ever-growing demand, and in 1936 bought out Stodart (and Glenburgie along with it), as well as Miltonduff Distillery. The two distilleries went on to become the backbone of Ballantine’s as we know it today.

A pair of Lomond stills were installed alongside the existing stills in 1958 and were used to produce a sweet and fruity blending malt known as Glencraig, however, they proved tiresome to clean and maintain, so were removed in 1981 and replaced with another pair of traditional pot stills, increasing production of whisky for Ballantine’s.

The final sequence of ownership played out over the last 30-odd years, with Allied Lyons, having bought most of the stocks in Hiram Walker during 1986, purchasing the group outright in 1987. Allied Lyons merged with Pedro Domecq and was then acquired by Chivas Brothers’ parent company Pernod Ricard, who took over the distillery in 2005.

And what Pernod received in Glenburgie was effectively a brand-new distillery, following closure in 2000 in preparation for a £4.3m rebuild that took place over 2003/4. The new distillery would be larger and open plan, with nothing but the four original stills kept to help retain the signature Glenburgie style. Another two stills were installed in 2006, bringing the total to six stills, and production capacity up to 4.2m litres per annum.

Glenburgie’s six stills are filled with wash that’s fermented for 52 hours in their 12 washbacks. Both the wash and spirit stills are onion-shaped. This causes reflux within the stills, meaning only the more delicate, fruity spirit will make its way up and then through the condensers, contributing to Glenburgie’s unique and sweet style, with loads of jam and fruit.

Single malt releases from Glenburgie have been very few and far between. There was only one bottling during the Allied Lyons days, Chivas has included it in the limited-edition Cask Strength series of limited-edition releases available only from visitors' centres, and a few lucky independent bottlers have got their hands on a cask here and there. It wasn’t until 2017 that a 15 Year Old was released in a series alongside other Ballantine's Malts, Miltonduff and Glentauchers.